Typography gives life, emotion and meaning to content. Make sure you’re using the right typography for your brand.
Think back to when you first discovered WordArt on Microsoft Word. You spent hours and hours experimenting with different fonts, colors, shapes and sizes. You had no idea words could be so fun. What you didn’t realize then is that you were giving the words on your page more meaning and an identity by making them into an art form.
What you probably don’t realize now is that the typography of a word can have a large impact on its reader. It is important to know the effect the typography you use for your brand has on your market.
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What is typography?
Typography is the appearance of words in all aspects, including color, font, size and more. Written word lacks the nonverbal communication, or body language, a face-to-face conversation would have (a smirk, an eye roll, a grunt). Typography becomes the substitute nonverbal communication for written word. It adds a tone of voice to the words on the page, gives them a personality and influence how a message is received.
For example, read the following words:
hello
HELLO
The second “hello” is more intense and almost seems like shouting to the reader, while the first “hello” is more collected and almost seems meek. They are the same word, but the larger size, caps lock and boldface give the word a different meaning.
Capturing relevant information about customers, fans, followers, and friends enable us to create more personalized interactions.
How is it affecting your brand?
Typography also affects how a brand is presented to its market. It becomes a representation of the brand. Like products and services, people often use a certain font to represent themselves as a brand. Taylor Swift uses a font called “Satisfaction” for the signature printed on all her albums and merchandise.
As you can see, a brand is associated with certain typography. It is a representation of the brand, and can be a great marketing tool, if you know how to use it properly.
How do you use it properly?
Let’s take that trip down memory lane once again and bring to mind the first time you discovered WordArt. What did your page as a whole look like? Probably a bunch of words scattered around the page with multiple colors, fonts and sizes trying to form a single sentence. That is a perfect example of what you don’t want your brand’s website content to look like.
1. Keep your target market in mind.
How old is the age group you’re trying to target? There’s a big difference in the font you will use if you’re trying to sell the newest coolest stuffed animal versus trying to sell life insurance. Younger markets will respond best to fonts that are more fun, such as Comic Sans MS. You can also make the words more colorful, bold and even 3-D. Older markets will respond better to fonts that have more structure to them and are easier to read, such as Baskerville. The key here is to know your market and what fonts they will respond to the best.
2. Don’t over do it.
Yes, colors are fun to use and can attract a reader, but no one wants to read a full webpage written in neon green font. That would be painful. Find the right balance of fancy typography. Use a common theme of two to three colors on your page. Don’t use too many sizes or fonts. You can have slightly different sizes, colors and fonts to organize sections and headings for your content, but stick to only a few variations.
3. Remember readability.
The point of writing content on your page is so that people read it. Choose fonts, colors and sizes that will make reading easy. Times New Roman is a common font that is easily read. 14-point font is a good average size for font on a webpage. The colors you use will depend on your target market, but remember to use colors that people can actually read and that won’t strain their eyes.
4. Make the words talk.
Typography is a way to express the nonverbal communication that is not always present in written word. Think about what emotions you want to evoke in your market. Use fonts, sizes and colors to make people happy, sad or amused while reading. Make them be able to hear the tone of voice you’re trying to use.
5. Use your judgment.
Overall, design your typography based on the best of your judgment. If a font or color looks kind of weird and unreadable, it will look very weird and unreadable to everyone else. Don’t overthink typography or let it distract your reader from the importance of the content. Have typography be helpful and add to the content.
Typography moves the reader along and gives a word body language, when it is done skillfully. It can help give your brand more of an identity. Next time you write content for a webpage, stop to think about what the typography is doing for your words. Is it hurting them or helping them?
Do you need help with typography or writing content for your website. Kraus Marketing specializes in digital marketing and web design. Contact Kraus Marketing today by visiting krausgroupmarketing.com or by calling us at 973-998-5742.