The BBC wrote an article a couple of weeks ago that really caught our eye at Logotastic. It gave the opinions of two people who summed up why our choice of typeface can be so important when writing or publishing information. To some, it may seem ridiculous to put so much emphasis on something so minor as font size or shape but to others, it seems ridiculous not too.
The BBC article discussed how graphic designers were up in arms about the typeface that was used for the film Avatar, one blogger commented -
“I hated it on the posters and then threw up a little in my mouth when I realised I would have to read that ugly font throughout the film in the subtitles.’
But obviously graphic designers make it their business to be interested in typefaces, what about the common man’s opinion on font? Well I don’t think we can ignore the fact that organizations everywhere spend millions of pounds ensuring that typefaces in their logos and branding are always spot on. They must do this for a reason, they must strongly believe that typefaces carry a lot of value and that they really do make a difference. The BBC article outlined the opinion of Julie Strawson, director of Monotype Imaging, an international type-design company, she argues that the power of the font goes right back to the Greeks.”The Greeks created handwriting and that’s one of the most personal ways of communicating.”
Although we can argue that a typeface will never be able to fully replace the personal touch of a pen and ink, there are thousands of available fonts to choose from today that can help deliver a very personal message.
‘Selecting a font is like getting dressed’, Ms Strawson says. ‘Just as one chooses an outfit according to the occasion, one decides on a font according to the kind of message you are seeking to convey. Some people find serif best because, like handwriting, it helps the eye to link the letters,’ Ms Strawson says. ‘With sans each character is completely separate, there’s more white space which is why some find it more readable. The typeface matters because of its power to create a sense of recognition and trust’ she argues: “Everyone recognises the BBC just from three characters in Gill Sans. It’s an icon. If you wrote BBC in a flowery font people wouldn’t recognise it.”
The other person the article showcased was Jonathon Barnbrook who founded the website Virus Fonts and he had some different ideas about value that typefaces carry. He argued that ‘a good typeface creates an emotional response in relation to the message it is conveying. You’re trying to get that tone of voice right - you can shout or whisper and you want to sum up the spirit of the age, because they do date quickly. People have become more aware about the impact of fonts because of computers, but the power of typeface is still largely subliminal.’
Mr. Barnbrook is most famous for producing the rather controversial fonts named Exocet, Bastard, Prozac and Nixon and he also designed the cover of David Bowies 2002 album which he also spoke about in the BBC interview. ‘I talked a lot with Bowie – the discussions went back and forth. He’s the creator and you re trying to get the atmosphere of the music across in the design. I chose one of our own fonts-Priori-which is formal but playful, as the album was quite dark. Typography is so closely associated with language so you can express irony and get the whole complexity of emotion in there. It’s part of a typeface designer’s essential make-up to get hung up on tiny details and sometimes that can be downright annoying. The problem is you’re watching a film and you notice a sign. You realise that the letterforms are 20 years later than the era the film is supposed to be set in’
So I conclude that typefaces do carry a great deal of value, hence why we put so much money, effort and time into branding. These are just the opinions of two of the people I enjoyed but I’m positive that if we look further – we will find that lots of people have their opinion on why fonts really do matter and why they carry so much value.