Font ‘Cult of Personality’
By Bree Beebe on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008Believe it or not, fonts have a distinct persona that visually communicates something about who you are or what you are trying to verbally express.
For this reason, designers must carefully select fonts that are appropriate for the occasion or brand. Various societal associations, such as standard industry fonts, as well as the usage of a font in other industries play a vital role in influencing the audience perception of your brand. Other important factors that a designer must consider are audience, readability, and the “fontosphere” (what fonts and graphics currently exist within the design).
Consider illustration 1.0 of the Archer font by Hoefler & Frere Jones. What associations come to mind for the Archer font in a and the handwritten Akbar font in b? What are some differences in the actual performance of the font (legibility, style)?
What do your fonts say about you? Look for your font on signs, online, in the market, and in literature to discover more about how people may be perceiving you or your brand.
Want to learn more about typography? Check out the links below.
i Love Typography
Typophile
TypeNeu
Bree, depending on who the target audience is & the appropriate for the age range should also be a key factor in making theses choices.
For instance, if my audience was high school students learning about astronomy I may choose something that may work harder towards catching their attention and the use of fun fonts will assist in spicing up the energy level…however, teens can see right through that so keeping it tasteful is key
…chipmunk cheeks
Here’s a study done on typeface personality. The findings seem to be just common sense (especially to us designers), but it shows that fonts do have a tangible personality beyond the message written in the text. The choice of font is most definitely related to the reaction you are hoping to achieve - and the image you wish to convey.
I guess it would help to include the link:
http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/81/PersonalityofFonts.htm