How Color and Typography Affect Your Brand (Hannah)

When it comes to your website, brand, and logo, the details matter. Your website is the portal to your business, you want it to look perfect and to be cohesive but you should match that dedication to each detail of your company, including the brand and logo.

Does the typography and color you use in your logo match your site? Do the font and color match your brand? Color and text affect our psychology, so it is important to know how yours affects your audience.

Typography

Text is typically the first thing someone sees when they come across your brand. What they see should accurately form an idea of what your business is like.

If you own a law firm and there was an ad on the highway for your practice in big swooping cursive, someone might think, “What an unprofessional firm.” Therefore, it is important to know what different types of text communicate.

• Formal: If you want your company to seem formal like a law firm should, you should use a font with a serif, like Times New Roman.
• Bold: If you owned a car company like Honda or Volvo, you’d want your brand to stick out. A slab serif font like Rockwell will help communicate your bold message.
• Simple: If you have a simple design and want to get straight to the point, use a sans serif font like Helvetica.
• Fancy/Creative: A script font usually communicates sophistication (thanks, Cadillac) but it can also convey creativity like Instagram’s font.
• Modern: Modern sometimes uses serif, but what finishes the look is the mix of thick and thin lines like the Matchbook text.
• Display: Disney is an example of a decorative display font. A display font isn’t always cursive though. Companies add their twist to the text to demonstrate their personality.

Choosing a Typography

Knowing which typography to choose starts with knowing your brand and audience. Do you need to convey seriousness or fun? Is your audience stockbrokers or little kids? Once you narrow down your personality and audience, it should be simple to go through the list of typography meanings and choose something that fits.

Color

Similar to typography, there is a psychology behind the color of your typography and website. Be sure to choose a color that communicates what your company stands for. Using the same example of a law firm, if you are a divorce attorney, you probably don’t want to use a hot-pink font. Do some research on what meanings color can communicate in your business.

• Red: Action and energy
• Orange: Adventure and affordability
• Yellow: Intellect and playfulness
• Green: Natural and healing
• Blue: Safety and trust
• Purple: Quality and creativity
• Pink: Compassion and feminism
• Black: Power and Authority
• White: Simplicity and fairness

Choosing Colors

Think back to the message you wanted to send when you chose your font and pick a color or color scheme that matches that same message. With some entities, like banks, there are multiple colors to use that would signify a positive message. Some choose to use green to symbolize finances, while other companies use blue to represent the safety your money will be in when you bank with them. When in doubt, look to what your competitors are doing.

Implementing Color and Typography

Before you publish your website, print 100 billboard ads, or even make business cards, make sure that your color and text choices effectively match your brand and the message you want your audience to understand. If you need help identifying your brand tone or if you are struggling with your vast color and typography choices, resources like Smartly Done Websites can help.