Font Psychology: What’s your type?

Ever had trouble selecting a font for your social media posts? Do you sometimes feel like a certain font perhaps makes your post too serious or drab, given the theme? Well, you aren’t wrong. This is where font psychology comes into the picture. Font psychology is the study of how various fonts affect one’s feelings, thoughts and behaviours. We may not realise it, but different fonts have different associations with how we feel and think. Using the usual Arial definitely evokes a different feeling as compared to using any sort of curvy text; where the Arial might feel professional whereas the other feels a bit creative. The ‘when’ of using the fonts appropriately to convey a certain message is important and is obvious to most. That is font psychology.

Font psychology gains its impetus from a phenomenon known as the picture superiority effect, which refers to the fact that human beings are more likely to remember visual stimuli than say, actual words. Hence, its no wonder that companies spend so much on branding and advertising. Let’s take an example of how effective this is. Imagine that you are driving down the road and you see a familiar ‘M’ in the near distance. You cannot help it; you go ahead and indulge yourself in the unhealthy goodness of a McDonald’s burger. Ever wonder how you can recognize that the ‘M’ is in fact for McDonald’s even from a far distance? After all, it is just a ‘M,’ why do we immediately know that a McDonald’s is nearby? Would we have recognized it if it wasn’t in its curvy form? It’s the certain font, isn’t it? Its that curvy ‘M’ that we are all so familiar with, that makes it stand out from any other M’s that we may come across.

Font psychology can also be examined using principles from Gestalt Psychology. Gestalt psychology stems from the belief that people have a tendency to perceive objects as unified and complete whenever possible. In other words, it is a tendency to find meaning in things where an obvious meaning is not clear. In typography, using Gestalt psychology means making sure that different parts form a whole in order to convey meaning. That is, for example, in a logo making sure that the colour, font, shape and size, all work together harmoniously to convey the message that the organization wants to put across. On the flip side, even if you get the colour, shape and size right- using the wrong font can easily destroy the organization’s credibility. Imagine having a Finance Company have their logo in a Bubble, curvy font; it completely goes against the serious, professional stance that the company believes in.

Similar to how people have certain feelings and thoughts associated with different colours, the same goes for fonts as well. We tend to have different reactions to the way the text is written; thus, the how of what you want to say matters more. Few different fonts that are known to play a role in conveying a certain message, fonts that evoke certain emotions by their usage; are listed below

• Serif

It is a classic front option, which promotes a very traditional front. It is ideally used if the organization hopes to show that they are established and classy, and more importantly- a company they can trust. Since it is a ‘formal’ font that is used to promote trust and respect, it is highly used by financial companies, in academic writing, editorials and more.

• Sans Serif

Sans serif fonts are like a more modern relative of serif fonts. They are used by brands who hope to promote a cool, modern image of their company. The emotions that the font hope to evoke include tech-savviness, modern, cool, straightforwardness. It is generally used by start-ups, fashion companies, tech companies.

• Script

These fonts are more sophisticated and fancier than other fonts. They hope to provoke feelings of elegance and creativity, with a personal touch, due to the text showing strong similarities with handwriting. It makes the organization feel more personal as well, thus promoting customer affinity. It can be used by food and beverage companies, brands focusing on children, and fashion brands.

• Decorative and display fonts

These are unique fonts that are different from the normal fonts you may come across. They include customized typefaces, thus giving the company their own personality. By tweaking around the fonts, companies hope to show themselves as being casual, unique or fun.

Whether you are a part of the audience or on the flip side, it is clear now that the process of selecting a font is more arduous that it seems, and rightfully so! If fonts are a way of connecting with your target audience, then thinking long and hard before committing to a specific choice is vital. Even on a regular basis, next time you open Word for work or are adding a post to your feed, perhaps thinking twice about choosing the correct font to convey your message could actually help you go a long way!

References

Peate, S. (2018). Finding your “type”: Font psychology and typography inspiration in logo design. Fabrik Brands. Retrieved from: https://fabrikbrands.com/font-psychology-and-typography-inspiration-in-logo-design/