Choosing the perfect font for a brand, logo or t-shirt design can be a challenge. Ida, one of our specialists on the ICON Printing team, shares her tips to help you find just the right type.
At ICON Printing we hear from many customers that are struggling to choose a font. And we understand the predicament; the more you dive into the world of typography the harder it can become to make a final decision. As designers ourselves, we know getting it right is important. And that’s why we’ve put together a set of four steps to offer a starting point for those looking for help to get it right.
How to choose the perfect font – a guide
Step 1: See what fonts are out there
Step 2: Pick a font that fits your brand identity
Step 3: Choose between Serif or Sans Serif
Step 4: Imagine the font off screen
Step 5: Consider the technicalities of your font choice
Step 6: Summary
Step 1: See what fonts are out there
Start your journey by doing some research. Spend some time on some of the free font sites, like Fontsquirrel, to get a sense of your options and really visualise the difference between different kinds of fonts. Dafont is another good font site to explore, which has a preview feature that allows you to see your exact text in different fonts.
Other good sources for free fonts include:
Step 2: Pick a font that fits your brand identity
What are you trying to communicate with your text? If the font is for a logo, it’s worth keeping it simple – especially if the logo needs to fit across a range of products. Look at the kinds of fonts used in your industry or sector, this should help guide you towards a set of fonts that will feel appropriate. Choosing a font that’s “on trend” might seem like a good plan at the time, but be cautious – when it (inevitably) goes out of fashion, your logo will look dated. When choosing a font for a logo or brand identity, you want to choose a type that will stand the test of time.
Step 3: Choose between Serif or Sans Serif
To be or not to be… Choosing between Serif or Sans Serif is one of the key decisions when selecting a font. Serif fonts have “feet” at the end of each line. Times New Roman is a classic example of a Serif font. Sans Serif fonts don’t have these feet. “Sans” translates directly from French to mean “without”. Arial and Helvetica are good examples of Sans Serif fonts. As a rule, Serif fonts are considered easier to read (particularly in small sizes) which is why they are commonly used in longer blocks of text, books, newspaper print. Sans Serif fonts are considered more modern and are very popular in contemporary logo design and branding.
To get the best results with your artwork, read our checklist of 10 design considerations
Step 4: Imagine the font off screen
Once you’ve narrowed down a few font styles you’re interested in, it’s worth trying to imagine what it might look like off screen. A great resource for graphic designers is Fonts in Use, a free typographical archive that shows different fonts…in use. This is a good moment to reflect a bit more on the tone of the font and what it might communicate on a piece of clothing – a font like Comic Sans, for example, will look silly (or fun, depending on how you look at it), while Times New Roman will look serious.
Step 5: Consider the technicalities of your font choice
Don’t get sucked into style over substance and really understand the purpose of your font. If your font will be used primarily for numerical text make sure the numbers read as clearly as the letters. Also make sure the font is available in the styles required: does it come in the range of character weights you need? Similarly, check whether your font is web safe.
Step 6: Summary
When choosing a font there are five steps that can help you get it right. Begin with some research: take a look at what’s out there. Next, decide what your brand identity it is. After that it’s time to make some more decisions on the kind of font you want based on the purpose; do you want a serif or sans serif font? To help you, try imaging the font off screen and finally, make sure you’ve considered all the technicalities.
Once you’ve chosen a font for your design and it’s ready to print, we’ve got a final tip. If you are sending us your design in Photoshop or Illustrator make sure you download and send us the font file with it. If you don’t we might not be able to see the text in the desired font. If you don’t have the font file, another option is to “outline” the text on photoshop, which turns the text into an image file – or send us your design as .png or .pdf and you’re good to go. We’re always happy to help guide you through any technical questions you might have.
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