When approaching the ideation process for brand identity and logo design, one of the most crucial considerations is the typeface selection. What will be of the best use — serif, sans serif, decorative or script? A typeface infuses your design with emotion and meaning, defining your brand’s identity in every medium, from packaging and editorial design to website design and business correspondence.
Strategic Customized Typeface Examples:
Bobber
by Lucas Almeida and Dmitry Goloub
Lucas Almeida and Dmitry Goloub created this beautiful serif for Bobber Motorcycles. Their design strategy focused on applying Bobber Motorcycles’s identity with the typeface design.
Lucas and Dmittry always liked to draw some typefaces and this is their first slab serif. It’s grid based and it’s called Bobber because it’s vintage style.The inspiration to Bobber was, of course, the bobber motorcycles but not just that. We were looking for an unique type. Every single Bobber character is modular and grid based.
Neptune
Sans serif typefaces and fonts normally lack ornamentation and can both improve legibility and add a minimalistic look to your work. The animation below shows an example of a sans serif font that David Massara created called Neptune. Massara added a twist to the standard sans serif design to create a compelling font.
“Neptune is a typeface inspired by the aesthetics of the violence of Ancient Rome with contemporary influences. It features two variants: a standard set which is a clean and clear sans serif, and an alternative who merged the two influences to create a sophisticated contemporary look. Perfect for usage in Posters / Logotypes and Headlines”
Auberge
by Ale Paul
Ale Paul designed the graceful script below — connecting characters with swashes, tails and flourishes — called Auberge. We love his approach to designing this elegant typeface and his motives for defining the characters’ movements.
Late 17th century French and Spanish professional calligraphy guides were great aides in understanding the ornamental scope of what the scribes were doing back then. The French books, with their showings of the Ronde, Bâtarde and Coulée alphabets, were the ones I referenced the most. So I decided to name the font Auberge, a French word for hotel or inn, because I really felt like a guest in different French locales (and times) when I going through all that stuff. Because it is multi-sourced, Auberge Script does not strictly fit in a distinct quill pen category. Instead, it shows strong hints of both Bâtarde and Coulée alphabets. And like most of my fonts, it is an exercise in going overboard with alternates, swashes, and ornamental devices. Having worked with it for a while, I find it most suitable for display calligraphic setting in general, but it works especially well for things like wine labels and event invitations. It also shines in the original quill pen application purpose, which of course was stationery.
Frontage
by Juri Zaech
Frontage is a charming layered type system with endless design possibilities using different combinations of fonts and colors. Achieve a realistic 3D effect by adding the shadow font or just use the capital letters of the regular and bold cut for stark artwork.The typeface’s design is based on a simple grid which creates the friendly, handcrafted look of facade signs. It is generously spaced for maximum impact of your message.As a display typeface Frontage loves color and is suitable for headlines and logotypes. Details include 224 characters in six styles and manually edited kerning.
Customizing Fonts
After deciding which typeface aligns best with a company’s message and identity, the next step is to personalize the mark so it stands out from the competition. Simply selecting a font from a library or from a free Internet source isn’t the best option for designing a unique, widely-renowned symbol.
HOW Design University hosts an online design course that teaches how to manipulate existing fonts to create a distinctive mark. The course, Scriptology, is geared toward script mark design, but the lessons can be applied to all logotype and wordmark development.
In the video-driven script mark design course, TypeEd instructors Michael Stinson and Leah Faust dissect the mark design process — from the anatomy to the emotion and to script readability. They provide students with a strong grasp of overall mark concepts, presenting step-by-step instruction for customizing existing typefaces using Bezier curves, the pen tool and the smooth tool in Illustrator.
The examples below show script mark customization that students can create after completing Scriptology:
Scriptology course? Check out the excerpt and introductory video below.
Important Script Mark Design Considerations
When creating a hand-lettered or hand-inspired script mark for a brand, it’s important to consider the tone of the brand name, the concept, and all the physical places it will be seen. The process of creating the personality of a mark is also crucial. Repeating shapes between letterforms establishes a visual rhythm. When paired with consistent stress, this helps bring the mark together, strengthening the relationship between forms and improving legibility. A hand-lettered script is special because it’s intimate, curvaceous, expressive, and human.
Eager to learn more about typography and typeface design? Check out all the great typography courses offered by HOW Design University.