Ever shop at the Gap? In 2010, the brand famously updated their logo with a new font. In just six short days the feedback was so overwhelmingly bad, the brand returned to their classic look.

Why the backlash? Typography matters. People form connections with not only what you say but how you say it. The Gap’s customers trusted the old logo – a classic serif type that felt inviting and familiar — while the new one, based on Helvetica, looked cold and bland.

Typography influences how people see a brand and the emotional connection they make with it. Is it trustworthy and comfortable? Your brand’s approach to typography across all communications – and especially on your website – set the tone for who you are and how people perceive you.

What is Typography?

Here’s a trick: if you’re proofreading a document, email or business communication, change the font. Why? Your brain will process the information differently and catch mistakes you may have overlooked. That’s the importance of fonts. Add in letter spacing, type size, line spacing, and bold or italic type and you have typography. Fonts, and everything that goes along with them, influence how we process and perceive the words in front of us.

How Much Does Typography Really Matter?

Changing a font is like changing your tone when you’re talking to someone. Consider:

One is loud (and some would say “screaming”). The other is soft and flowing. You can sense the tone in the typesetting. Tone is an important part of typography.

Typography also reflects the care and attention you put into your brand. Clean, consistent and properly spaced letters tell your customers that details matter to you. It reinforces your professionalism and credibility. Outdated typography can make a brand appear unreliable or untrustworthy. Back to the Gap: while the brand returned to their old logo, they eventually updated the spacing of those three simple letters and widened their size ever so slightly. The result was the classic married with the modern – and a logo that Gap fans wholeheartedly embraced.

Strong Typography Affects Every Marketing Channel

Top brands like Google, Coca-Cola, Apple and CNN all developed their own fonts. In some cases, brands develop custom typefaces to avoid paying licensing fees. However, the bigger issue is corporate identity. When a brand owns their typeface, everything they say – and everywhere they say it – reflects back on them.

Good typography makes you message easier to read – across every marketing channel. In today’s world of social media reels played with the volume off and closed captioning on – sometimes the words we speak are never even heard. When a brand typesets closed captions on reels, they can make sure the right words are used, they are spaced correctly, and they are set in a manner that tells their story in the flow the marketer intended.

In longer form copy – like this blog – typesetting can make content easier to read and understand.

Subheads and call-out copy can guide readers through information
and make things more scannable.

It avoids the TL; DR (too long, didn’t read) trap. You can highlight key messages, calls to action, and set the stage for a positive customer experience.

Why Typography Matters on Websites

Corporate websites house a lot of information, and you need your customers to find what they’re looking for easily. Poor typesetting can lead to high bounce rates and a negative user experience.

Typography also goes hand-in-hand with a search engine’s ability to find you. Headlines and subheads can enhance SEO. Accessibility standards improve usability and readable content can boost your engagement metrics.

Readability also matters, and this can change based on where your customers access your website – desktop vs. mobile. Typography must be readable and tested across different devices/browsers and be mobile-friendly. Tiny type on a mobile phone can create frustration that leads to lost business.

TL; DR Takeaways:

• Headlines set in a strong typography style improve click-through rates and SEO
• Clear typography improves navigation and calls to action
• Test readability on mobile vs. desktop

How Do You Choose?

By some estimates, there are more than a million fonts floating around. How do you choose? Always start with your brand and what you represent. What’s your tone and voice? Choose fonts that represent these intrinsic characteristics. Are you fun and lively or bold and authoritative? Here are a few other best practices we recommend:

• Limit font families to assure brand cohesiveness. Two to three font choices are best. Use one for headings and the other for large bodies of copy.
• Make sure your secondary font for text is readable based on the media you’re using. Sans-serif fonts like Arial and Helvetica are best for screens, while serif fonts like Garamond are great for print.
• Once you select your font families, establish parameters for spacing, contrast and sizing. Can your font be reversed out on a dark background? Is the spacing great for everything – including when you add registration marks and trademarks? What changes need to be made manually to improve spacing and kerning?

Typography is a Strategic Marketing Tool: Use It!

Typography is an essential tool across all marketing channels. It affects the perception of your brand, the usability of your communications, and the impact of your messaging. It is your voice in the wild – and sets the stage for every conversation you have with your customers.

Ready to take your typography to the next level? Dennison Creative can help you determine an approach that works for the character of your brand.