Are fonts important?

Are fonts important to a brand identity? You betcha. They shouldn’t be chosen on a whim, as they are as important to the identity system as colors and photography style in creating a unified look, while inspiring an intended emotional response. Further, the system should visually communicate how a brand is different from its competitors. To say this is much to consider is an understatement. But we’re on it.

So how do fonts participate in the identity system to illustrate our story? Think about your dinner table. Our third meal of the day is a routine part of life, but sometimes the centerpiece is a pizza box surrounded by paper plates on Hot-N-Ready night (rhetorical pop quiz: Which brand am I referring to here?), while on rare occasions, the centerpiece is fresh flowers in a crystal vase surrounded by fine china and linens. Regardless of the entrée or the presentation, it’s still dinner. But the presentation is key in defining the mood and often the behavior of the people engaging with it. So it is with fonts. They communicate words. The language (like the entrée) paired with certain fonts (like the table settings) influences how people perceive a brand. And if they aren’t coupled in a way that makes sense, credibility can suffer. Imagine being invited to a formal dinner with take-out pizza as the main course. The conflict would be tough to reconcile, would it not? (But not impossible, in my view. It might actually be fun, but you get the picture.)  

OK, so my analogy makes common sense, but naysayers may need real-world evidence, so here you go: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) released an important discovery in the summer of 2012 about how atoms stick together. This physics project was expensive and globally significant, but the public had a difficult time taking it seriously because scientists used Comic Sans MS to present their research. Instead of being in awe, the mainstream public made a joke out of it. Is the mainstream public superficial? Perhaps. But that’s really irrelevant. We’re not on a mission to convince them to pay attention to content rather than presentation; we’re campaigning to influence their perception. That means we must pay attention to what influences them. And fonts do that.

So what kind of fonts will appropriately tell Union’s story? In answering this question, we had many things to consider. For one, we had to look at our competitors so we wouldn’t have typefaces that could be confused with theirs. Differentiation is key to building a successful brand, right? Also, we had to think about the general message we want to send. Based on our marketing research, along with Union’s vision and mission, it makes sense for us to promote a brand based on strong social responsibility that resonates with connected consumers. (By “connected,” we mean those whose day-to-day experiences with friends, influencers and brands include many online touch points. More on that later.) And to communicate effectively with our target market, we must consider what’s important to students in our region of Appalachia. This part is easy, because the things that are important to them are in perfect alignment with what’s important to us: We all want to positively influence a change in the perception that many people have of southeast Kentucky. To erase a stereotype based on “Mountain Dew mouth” and other not-so-attractive beliefs, we must assert ourselves as confident thought leaders and contribute to the economic growth of our area.

So what kind of font communicates confidence, focus, determination and forward thinking? We think Museo is an excellent choice for this. But it’s not perfect.

Museo is the typeface you see in the blog title. It’s also overused. Google it, and you’ll so what I mean. Problematic? Yes. But we think we can work around it by modifying the presentation to make it more unique. We plan to use it as a display font, which means it will be used sparingly. More about that tomorrow.

For now, I’d like to draw your attention to another font we’ve chosen to help us communicate a brand that exudes confidence and forward thinking: Optima. Unlike Museo, this font isn’t new or trendy, but it’s appropriate. 

Thank you for reading, and please comment about how you think we could graphically modify Museo to create a unique headline for Union’s marketing messages.