Brand Elevation via Typeface
A brand is more than buying and selling products and involves creating consumer perception; “words” are one of the most important means of building perception. Words are ingrained in our daily lives and affect our views of things. We can communicate concepts through word meanings, and words are more memorable when their appearance is altered by design. Their appearances and meanings can complement each other to maximize communication effectiveness. Let’s use Nike as an example and discuss the images below.
Case Study 01
Combining words and visual design
Nike’s brand slogan, “Just do it”, uses bold font to express the meaning of its powerful slogan (above left). However, if we change the slogan to serif, its intent is downplayed (above right). The tone becomes softer despite our understanding of the meaning. Visually we are more inclined to remember the corresponding bold letters because the meaning and appearance are more correlated.
We often focus on logo or logotype design because it can symbolize brands and differentiate them from market competition. However, brand typeface usually is selected from existing fonts and is not unique or designed for the brand. Therefore, when a brand comes up with a specialized typeface, the results may not be apparent, but it will still influence people’s perception of the brand and achieve market differentiation.
In the red sea of commerce, think believes that brand typeface is a decisive factor. Many brands all over the world have already invested in it. A typeface has different application influences regardless of design scale size, and we can use it as a starting point to show you some brand cases from all over the world.
Case Study 02
Making cities more memorable in globalization
The competition between cities is becoming increasingly intense, and it is hard for cities to stand out. In addition to creating city brands, because of the wider range of application requirements, such as brochures, architectural design, subway signs, etc., many cities create unique font designs to meet needs and inadvertently infiltrate our lives.
The capital of Sweden – Stockholm, had many different families of branding institutions in its early days, leading to chaotic inconsistency, and local citizens felt that the city’s character was buried and hidden from the world. Therefore, in 2012, a five-year redesign project was initiated to address concerns and fulfill its vision to become a world-class urban brand.
In addition to integrating and designing identification signs, the design team also developed a font representing the city to allow it to be flexibly applied in various places, to ensure the integration of the city, and to strengthen awareness. Even in small areas such as trash cans and large areas such as billboard advertisements, there was no place where this unique brand typeface was not used. As a result, the residents living in this city were more unified and proud of the city where they lived, and tourists who came to travel were also more involved, the image of the city was more profound, and behind these achievements was the unique brand typeface.
More Stockholm brand identity introductions:
Case Study 03
Open source fonts quietly integrate into lives
Open source font is a resource that all people with text needs will be happy with. It can be freely commercialized and modified, and it is a font widely used in print or on the Internet. IBM Plex™ is one of them. Yes, it is a set of fonts designed by IBM, an American commercial machine company. The font includes four fonts, two styles, eight weights, and 100 languages. Despite such a huge production, it was generously shared with the world as an open source font, which stems from IBM’s brand spirit and history.
IBM Plex™ is not just a general design that focuses on functionality and removes brand features but maximizes balance and design features that can be widely used and retains brand features to achieve better brand image publicity. It is understandable why such a large American company should open source time-consuming font design instead of owning it because it can be applied inside and outside the brand image, even by consumers or employees that do not belong to the brand. We are all likely to discover it has inadvertently and quietly integrated into our lives. Their generous act embodies the company’s spirit. In the eyes of consumers, enterprises and designers alike, it is a role model for complete brand identification and is not just limited to its own users, with limited brand penetration.
More IBM Plex™ introductions: Click here
Case Study 04
Use typography to create a brand image from the inside out
During the pandemic, many brands realized the importance of onlineization to escape defeat. The 92nd Street Y, New York (hereinafter referred to as “92NY”), a unique arts and humanities center in the United States, also discovered this problem. It began to extend its service scope from the Manhattan local community to all over the world. In order to respond to dynamic changes, the design company redefined it as a “home city” and created new visuals and standard fonts dedicated to the brand. In addition, it reintroduced its new positioning to the public as “where New York meets the world”.
The new logo uses the exclusive font 92NY Didi as an application to carry on cultural heritage. The font is a tribute to the New York font in the second half of the 20th century. At that time, the city was a cultural center, from broadcasting to fashion, architecture and other aspects. These cultural implications are undoubtedly the perfect choice for 92NY. Based on these implications, they developed font applications suitable for online to offline so that brands that want to speak to the world, from small mobile phones and social platforms to large posters and advertisements, have the best and most effective exposure. There is no place the font does not appear. 92NY based the text on cultural heritage, which not only integrates the background of the 20th century but also perfectly presents the brand value of 92NY.
More 92NY brand identity introductions: Click Here
Case Study 05
The most extreme and minimal feature display
Pili Puppet Show is a household name in Taiwan. It has continued to develop in the film and television entertainment industry for 30 years. In 2020, Pili began to expand its communication with the new generation and the international market. The think brand consultant team was honored to participate in this meaningful process to recreate Pili’s brand identity and create a unique font.
The logo design is very imaginative. The graphic design was based on the main outline of “Pili" and transforms the appearance of “rain" in the upper part and recreates the image of the Yetai Theater (traditional outdoor theater). The second half of the Chinese “辟歷" is cleverly replaced by “PILI”. The italic design injects a sense of dynamism, echoing the film and television culture industry where Pili exists and extends to the brand’s standard typeface as a whole. The brand spirit is apparent in English or Chinese, supplemented with totems and original characters from the Pili Puppet Show, etc. It is not the main visual core, but it gives the brand image more harmony and uniqueness. Even small details can make a big difference, and the power of fonts is extremely prominent.
Pili International Media：Click Here
Conclusion
Fonts are everywhere, from major city brand recognition to small corporate brand typeface. You can imagine how difficult it would be to communicate with people in a world without words and only images. From the above cases, we find that companies that attach importance to brand typeface have realized the value and importance of fonts when entering the international market. Because English is already a global language, if a set of typefaces belonging to the brand is designed, it can not only express the meaning of words but also add brand value, speed up the process of delivery, and improve the loyalty of the global audience to the brand. The brand retention will also be relatively improved. thinker believes that it is very important to continue to focus on the future of brand identity, and brand typeface will be a winning move to elevate brands to new heights.
References｜essen, IBM, Pentagram
