Say “I love you” to Typography For Your Brand Campaign

Happy Wednesday and Happy February! 

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, brands are gearing up for their love campaigns. We’ve already discussed one way to catch your consumer's eyes with storytelling, but there’s much more to come. Today we will discuss the importance of typography and how you can best utilize it in your Valentine’s branding.  

What is Typography?

The dictionary definition: the style and appearance of written matter. This goes beyond just picking a pretty font. Typography includes point size, line length, and spacing between lines (leading) words (tracking) and letters (kerning). 

Why is Typography Important?

Typography has its obvious uses in branding. From being able to easily recognize a brand with their consistent style, to being easy to read and accessible to viewers. However, whichever font you choose in your advertising and how it is laid out also sends a message along with the other parts of your design. 

Large and bold fonts draw the eye immediately, while modern fonts can signify that a product is simple and luxe. Changing up the style of one word can be used to convey hidden meaning. So how can we best use this for the holiday dedicated to love-birds?

Valentine’s Typography

First, a look at some lovely typography examples. 

• ‘Niluu’ has their brand's name front and center, the largest on the ad. Below is an italicized and thinner font reading “The silk sense” to imply a softer and more feminine connection. Then is their message, in a much simpler font “fall in love with you.”

• El Paso Zoo’s “Quit Bugging Me” campaign uses a bold font meant to grab attention fast. 

• Pilot Pen used a font and style that looks like it’s been taken right out of a sketchbook. Their campaign asked people to write handwritten love notes (with their pen, of course) and their font perfectly exemplified that sweet, made-with-love look.  

So what makes a look romantic? Cursive and traditional serif fonts are the most timeless styles for that Valentine's look. When it comes to colors, you can’t go wrong with pink! What pink you pick also says a lot. Mauve and burgundy (or other deeper pinks) give an elegant and elevated vibe while taupe or a sapphire blue will appear modern. If you want to use other colors,  pastel and muted pinks are always a good choice. 

Below are some more tips for creating the best Valentine’s Day typography for your campaign!

• Make your slogan or call to action a simpler font than the one in your header. This helps make it clear to the reader what they should do. 
• Flow one letter into the next without making it cursive if you want to make sure it’s completely accessible but still romantic. The font Rottering is a great example of this.  
• Try a hand-drawn style like Suissant for a more personal look and connection.  
• Make sure you don’t use too many different fonts, two or three is enough and will keep your design from looking chaotic.
• Opposites attract in real life and design. Pair a bold font with a lighter one, a dark color with a bright one, large text with small. This creates contrast and can be used to draw the reader's eye to certain pieces of information first. 
• As always, be consistent with this new style across all platforms for brand recognition.
• See what your text looks like in different settings. What looks legible and pretty on a big computer screen might appear squished and unreadable on someone's phone.