Font Psychology

              

 What is it?

Human beings instinctively assign human characteristics to things that are not human. Because people respond to visual culture and images emotionally, designers can use font psychology to manipulate how people see and/or react to something like a product or business. Logos include many visual components such as imagery and words. Just like with pictures, humans also respond to different fonts emotionally. 

Typefaces vs. Fonts

Typefaces are collections of letters. Each typefaces includes a number of fonts that follow a set of rules that make them a part of a particular typeface. It is like a family.

Fonts are visual elements used to pass information or convey a message to the reader. Like other visual elements, fonts carry a hidden message that changes how someone perceives the text. They are like individual people that make up a family, or a typeface.

1. Serif: Trustworthy Fonts

Subcategories: Old Style, Slab, Transitional, Modern, and Glyphic

Psychological Associations: Stability, tradition, intellect, and formality

Until the 19th century, books and pamphlets were set in Serif type, a style inherited from early Roman and Blackletter typefaces. Because of this history, serifs evoke a sense of tradition and familiarity. Many colleges, institutions, even law firms, news channels and luxury fashion brands have been known to use them. Serif is known for intellect (books and academic journals) formality (invitations and textbooks), and for being dependable as it is seen in many places.

2. Sans Serif: Friendly Fonts

Subcategories: Square, Humanist, Grotesque, and Geometric

Psychological Associations: Progressive, informal, open, and friendly

Sans Serif typefaces were invented in the early 19th century but became popular during the 20th century when the modernist movement encouraged a break away from traditional design forms, including serif type styles. Sans serif represent progress as it is culturally known as a break from tradition, or the "norm." Recently, these fonts have been used to brand tech companies and social media sites and businesses prefer them to make their customers feel welcome and comfortable.

3. Script: Fun Fonts

Subcategories: Formal, Casual, Blackletter, and Calligraphic

Psychological Associations: Creative, amusing, fun, childlike, and romantic

Even though they have become more popular recently, they were used on and off throughout the 1950s. Brands like Ray-Ban and Coca-Cola have chosen to keep their logos as they are establishing a connection to the past and seeming more familiar to the older generation. Calligraphy fonts are more formal and sophisticated and are used by luxury brands and high-end restaurants in their branding and menus. Many contemporary script fonts mimic the diversity of modern handwriting styles and are appealing to the younger generations. Because these fonts relate to handwriting and doodling, script fonts are seen as creative and fun.

4. Decorative: Independent Fonts

Psychological Associations: Novel, trail-blazing, unique, and adaptable

Decorative fonts do not have a solid, individual category because they are just mixes of other typefaces. The creative nature and unique characteristics of these fonts makes them a really good choice for a brand that wants to stand out. They give designers and brands an individuality and difference which help catch customers' eyes and attention. For brands like Lego and Oreo, logos set in decorative fonts emphasize the novelty of the products, making them more interesting and exciting. Grassroots and independent organizations often use decorative fonts in their communication.

What Typefaces and Fonts are Used in Travel Magazines?

Titles/Subheadings. For the titles of the articles in travel magazines, most use serif. While they are usually the softer serif fonts, they are still noticeable in the letters (the lines on the bottom of the letters). Magazines use this for titles and subheadings because those elements are usually more formal in any type of text, like essays and books. Occasionally, magazines will design the title's font to match the theme of the article by using script, sans serif, and even decorative fonts.

Examples: Bookman Old Style, Roboto Slab, Cormorant Garamond, Bree Serif, Spectral

Articles. Most travel magazines use sans serif fonts in their articles. This makes the article have a comfortable and friendly feel. These feelings encourage the reader to continue and view the whole piece and helps them relate to some of the content. It also makes the destination the feature is talking about seem inviting which will persuade them to look more into it. The font used in the body of this blog is actually sans serif too.

Examples: Open Sans, Quicksand, Abel, Orbitron, Calibri

This is an example from National Geographic magazine:

The title of the feature is in a serif font.

The body of the feature is in a sans serif font.

This is an example from Luxury Travel magazine:

In this article, the designers decided to match the title fonts with the theme of the feature.

The subheading that tells the reader what the next section is about is in a serif font. However, the body of the paragraph is in a sans serif font.

In my magazine, I will use script for the masthead because it will give it a creative and unique touch which goes against most traditional magazines. For my subheadings and feature titles, I will use serif because subheading have a certain formality to them, and finally, for my articles, I will use sans serif to make them more inviting to readers.

Wrap Up

People unconsciously associate human feelings and traits to non-human things like fonts. This allows designers to make brands that evoke certain feeling in people. Typefaces are families of fonts that share characteristics, and fonts are all different and convey hidden messages or meanings. Serif fonts are known to be traditional, sans-serif fonts are progressive or friendly, script fonts are creative and fun, and finally, decorative fonts are unique and adaptable. Travel magazines usually use serif fonts for titles and subheadings because it is the more formal part of an article, but use sans-serif fonts for the body of the features included in the magazine to create a sense of comfort and to encourage the reader to continue to read the whole article.

Works Cited:

• Gert Svaiko Gert is a professional copywriter. “Font Psychology: Here's Everything You Need to Know about Fonts.” Designmodo, 22 June 2021, https://designmodo.com/font-psychology/#serif.

• Fussell, Grace. “The Psychology of Fonts (Fonts That Evoke Emotion).” Design & Illustration Envato Tuts+, Envato Tuts, 16 May 2020, https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/the-psychology-of-fonts--cms-34943.

• “Typ.io.” Travel Font Pairings | Typ.io, https://typ.io/tags/travel.