Typography in Graphic Design: All You Need to Know

Graphic design isn’t all just images and pictures; there is so much more to it than many people realise. Graphic and digital designs, while different services, involve far more than creativity and being able to use professional software.

Alongside logo, branding and company name, one of the most important factors in compelling, professional business graphic design is typography.

What is Typography?

Typography involves arranging typefaces in various combinations of font, size, spacing, and alignment at a basic level. Typography design is just as intricate and crucial to a business’ branding as the supporting graphics, icons and templates that go alongside it. Graphic designers, like the team at Abstract Creative Studio, use typography to make important decisions regarding fonts, size, body text, placement and so on, for our clients. We also use typography and typeface to adjust texts within designs, ensuring that content is neat, visually appealing and evenly sized, scaled and spaced.

Elements of Typography

When you see posters, leaflets, flyers, brochures, logos, websites or anything else with text, there is a good chance that it has involved some form of typography design. Brands have to create a unique identity to connect with their customers, and considering today’s competitive market, they need to be able to do that quickly and effectively to stand out from their competitors. Typography is just as crucial to that as much as any other facet of graphic design.

Here are some common terminology related to the field of typography and design, which will hopefully clear up any confusion:

• Typefaces & fonts - these terms are used interchangeably but mean different things. Fonts refer to weights, widths and styles of typefaces or a graphic representation of text characters. Typefaces usually refer to creating text styles like Arial or Montserrat; in essence, a family of font styles.
• Leading - this is the vertical spacing between each line of words.
• Kerning - this is the space that’s left between letters and characters.
• Hierarchy - this is about guiding readers to notice headings, subheadings and body types, depending on the importance of the text.
• Size - this determines the hierarchy value through the use of styling, dimension and spacing.
• Colour - the colour of text helps it stand out, conveying the tone of a brand message. Colour is balanced between three components - value, hue and saturation.
• Alignment - this crucial typography element unifies the text to give it equal size, space and distance between other elements.

Why is Typography Important for Business Owners?

Every business has a unique value proposition and message to convey to its target audience. Abstract Creative Studio would approach brand typography with our client’s customers in mind, as we would with any design element. Our graphic designers can use typography design ideas as inspiration to create unique typefaces, fonts, and all other elements listed above.

Typography is still crucial for any business, whether new or established, and there are several reasons why it shouldn’t be overlooked.

1. It grabs your audience’s attention.

People’s attention spans are short enough as it is, and they’re only getting shorter. Brands need to grab everyone almost immediately and therefore the typography needs to be eye-catching and draw them in.

2. It makes the text reader-friendly.

Careful use of typography ensures that the text your audience reads in printed brochures, digital brochures, website pages, social media graphics and so on, is easy for them. The wrong choice of font or typeface can be a switch-off for some people.

3. It establishes a clear hierarchy.

Skilled and experienced graphic design companies make good use of font sizes and font types to convey important information first, in headings and subheadings with more detailed information in the text body. This is easier for your readers to understand what you’re trying to tell them.

4. It builds recognition for you.

Brand recognition and identity are crucial to helping a business stand out from its competitors. The fonts and typefaces are visuals that can stay imprinted in peoples’ memories, therefore helping them recognise you. Many logos are typography-based, such as Coca Cola, Disney and many more, so businesses should always ensure typography ideas are aimed towards building recognition with their customers.

5. It aids clarity.

Each typeface can represent businesses in different ways, in terms of what they do and how they add value. The audience understands a design by absorbing its message, and a graphic design agency like Abstract Creative Studio can incorporate fonts that help convey that message clearly and effectively.

No-Obligation Review from Graphic Design Experts

We hope the above has helped give you some more insight into the power of typography. We love discussing designs and ideas with business owners who need that flexible, customer-focused approach. We take designing with your customers in mind very seriously, so why not book a no-obligation review with our team today to see how we may be able to help your typography stand out in striking, quality designs?