You’ve got a killer font in your logo, you should use that same font for everything you do, right?
TL;DR:
- The fonts you choose for different types of text allow you to create points of emphasis in your writing.
- Picking fonts is like picking an outfit to wear, you choose the right outfit based on where you’re going, who will be there, and what your objective is.
- Don’t make the mistake of using the same font for your logo, headlines, paragraph text and all other text, this will remove the emphasis from the different types of text.
Oftentimes small businesses that aren’t too well versed in design will have a logo designed and then use the same font across all text from the headings to paragraphs on the website to documents that they print in the name of “consistency.”
“We want to keep our brand consistent, so we have to use the same font for everything.”
I‘ve made this mistake myself while working on projects for clients and my own projects. The problem is that the font loses its power when you use it everywhere. Having different fonts allows you to have different points of emphasis and different levels of emphasis for the text your customers are reading. On the other hand, if everything is the same, people’s minds will adjust to seeing it and your headline font which was supposed to be powerful now just looks the same as your paragraph, just a bit bigger. And it also has the same style as your logo so it must be just as important right?
Using the same font for everything is like wearing the same clothes for all occasions. Sure, if you wear something subtle and you’re Mark Zuckerberg you can pull it off. But for most people, what we choose to wear differs based on the occasion.
Paragraphs are your everyday, at home wear. People that are skimming through your text won’t really give as much importance to paragraph text, so it shouldn’t stand out too much. Your customers that actually want to hear from you will come over to your house and have a long discussion with you (read your text), so you don’t need to make it too fancy for them.
Headlines are your formal events where you go as a guest. These aren’t every day events, you want to stand out and be seen. You’re trying to get people’s attention by showing this is something important.
Your logo is your wedding where you are the main person of focus and have to be dressed the best. Like you wedding day, you won’t dress this fancy very often. You want to make sure the font in the logo actually stands out and is distinct from the rest of the fonts.
For our logo we can get a little crazy since that is the symbol that we will be remembered by.
For writing headlines and paragraphs for display on your website, if you pick a font that is too crazy that can make it hard to focus on the actual content of the writing for the reader.
When it comes to consistency in our font choices, it does’t mean that the font has to be the same across all platforms, or even of the same font family. Just like the clothes we wear are different based on the occasion, but still represent our personality, so too the fonts we choose should be true to our brand’s personality.
Consistent does NOT mean the same. When we strive for consistent visual design, we want the different font choices to flow together to create a holistic visual experience for the audience. We don’t want to pick completely different fonts that make the reading experience jarring for your audience.