What does your font say about your brand?
First impressions count!
“Fonts are like facial expressions – there’s a whole conversation contained in the way a font appears before you ever read a word. As a reader, you react to type whether you know it or not, experiencing emotions, crafting perceptions.” ~ Credera
What is the meaning of fonts for company branding? A firm’s documents are just as important as any other element of its branding. A document may form the first interaction with a third party, and it must therefore convey the tone and quality of the business. Choosing the right font, and deciding how to present it, is the first, and most critical, step in the document design process.
A professionally presented document speaks volumes before the reader is aware of the content. The subliminal message should be clear.
For example: this is a firm that is professional, with a strong pedigree, but forward-thinking and approachable; a firm that knows what it is doing, and that communicates clearly and without fuss. The document should convey importance and encourage the reader to pay attention.
A brief introduction to fonts
A font is a graphical representation of text that may include a different typeface, point size, weight, colour or design. Well-known font names are Times New Roman, Arial and Comic Sans. It’s highly advisable avoid using Comic Sans for serious law documents, contracts and company presentations. Learn more on that here.
“When picking a typeface to represent your business, keep in mind the effect that they can have on your audience, in order to powerfully set the tone for your brand’s personality and overall appearance.” ~ Visuable
Serif or sans-serif
A ‘serif’ is a decorative stroke that finishes off the end of a letters stem (sometimes also called the “feet” of the letters). One well-known example of a serif font is Times New Roman. This type of font is more ornamental that a sans-serif font which does not have the decoration. A well-known example of a sans-serif font is Arial.
Serif fonts date back to the 18th century when stonemasons would carve letters into rock. These fonts are considered more formal; they say traditional, established and trustworthy. They tend to be used in newspapers, magazines and books. A serif font is suited to a business wishing to convey safety and tradition. Sans-serif fonts, on the other hand, communicate a more modern and approachable style; they convey clarity and openness. Whilst some say that serif fonts are easier to read in a printed document, in practical terms, sans-serif fonts are suitable for both print and on-screen reading.
System and non-system fonts
System fonts are the ones that are installed on your computer as part of the Windows operating system or your applications, most relevantly Microsoft Office in this case.
There are thousands of excellent non-system fonts available and, whilst they may seem an attractive proposition if you truly want to stand out from the crowd (and design aficionados will often recommend these), they can bring problems when you share non-PDF documents electronically.
Unless you embed the font in your document, the document will be displayed in a substitute font on the recipient’s screen, ruining your carefully thought-out branding. Embedding an entire font family in your electronic file will significantly increase the file size, and some fonts cannot be embedded.
Cloud fonts
Cloud fonts are available to Microsoft 365 users. When you look in the list of available fonts in your Microsoft application, you will see that some have a cloud symbol and arrow next to the name. These are cloud fonts.
They render correctly, and are editable, in documents shared between 365 and Office 2019. Cloud fonts may not be recognised by earlier versions of Office (2010, 2013 and 2016) unless they are embedded in the file. All cloud fonts can be embedded successfully.
Running with the herd
Arial
Developed in the 1980s, Arial came free with Windows 3.1 (along with Times New Roman). One of the most widely used, sans-serif system fonts, it is now so common that it says nothing about your brand; in fact, it does the very opposite to helping you stand out from the crowd. It is plain and inoffensive. Is that the image you wish to portray?
Calibri
Part of Microsoft’s ClearType Font Collection, Calibri replaced Times New Roman as the default font for the Microsoft Office Suite in 2007. (Note the change from serif to sans-serif here.) In an age where most electronic documents are read on a screen of some sort, Microsoft wanted a font that would render more clearly on-screen – this is ClearType technology. In terms of design, it is a perfectly nice, safe font but, as the default Word font, it will not help you stand out from the crowd. In time, it will also become over-exposed in the same way as Times New Roman did, and Arial has.
Recommendations
Use a sans-serif font, at least for the body of your text. Using a serif font for headings can sometimes provide a stylish contrast for non-legal documents such as proposals.
Use system fonts for your documents.
Choose a font other than the Microsoft default.
With over 20 years’ experience as Microsoft Word specialists in the Legal marketplace, we have a great deal of experience in font application for law firm documents. If you would like to find out more, please get in touch.
