If you’ve ever gone looking for a font online then you know there are thousands of options available and it can be completely overwhelming.

But which typeface you choose to use can mean the difference between a compelling and professional-looking brand that is attractive to your dream clients and one that looks unattractive and amateurish.

You may never have even considered that fonts can actually help to make a connection with your audience, but they can.

Just like colors, symbols, and shapes, fonts have built-in associations that can impact the way your brand is perceived. So you need to pay attention to the psychology behind the fonts you choose and make sure they align with your brand’s personality.

For example, you wouldn’t want to use a futuristic-looking font if your brand’s personality is traditional or nostalgic or a formal script if you’re trying to convey a more masculine or strong feeling.

Let’s look at the 3 main font categories:

Serif fonts

You can tell if a font is a serif by whether or not it has little feet on the end of the letters.

Because serifs were originally designed for the early years of the printing press, they are great if you want your business to appear sophisticated, refined, traditional, or classic.

This is why you’ll often see serif fonts used by brands that want to convey respectability, tradition, and luxuriousness. Some are more elegant and subtle and others are more bold and loud.

Sans serif fonts

The word “sans” means “without” so a sans serif is a font without the little feet on the edges.

This type of font is great for creating a more modern, young, clean, or minimalist look.

Brands that use sans serif fonts want to convey simplicity and minimalism. Some are thin while others are bolder.

Script fonts

Script fonts look like cursive handwriting by having character strokes that connect one letter to the next.

They can give your brand an authentic, creative, elegant, or original feel.

Because everyone’s handwriting is unique, each script font feels distinctive and different. Script fonts can be difficult to read though, so if you go this route, make sure it’s legible and used minimally in your logo or in shorter headlines.

Font style

Within all of these 3 main font categories there are also many different styles to choose from that also have different built-in associations to consider.

For example, very thin and fine-lined fonts will give a light and clean look while a heavier bold font will appear more strong and authoritative.

As you’re choosing the elements to include in your brand you need to be sure that they are in alignment with the personality that you’ve already determined for your business.

So if you haven’t yet nailed down your brand personality, click here so that you know what thoughts and feelings you want your dream clients to feel when they see your brand.