It may seem like a minor detail, but in fact a font can evoke a very strong and very specific feeling or response in the beholder. Throwback fonts like Courier, which mimics the look of text from a typewriter, can create a time-tested, reliable image, but lack the modernity some brands require. Lucida Handwriting has a feminine aesthetic, which works for beauty salons, but not for hardware stores or tire wholesalers. And Times New Roman carries an academic association that could work for businesses who would like to appear studious, but will fall flat if used by a nightclub or luxury spa.
Choosing the right font for your business cards, postcards, flyers, website, signs, stickers, and other marketing materials is a very personal process, but there are some general guidelines that can give a leg up to anyone who feels stuck between a Verdana and Bookman Old Style. Check out our top five tips for choosing fonts wisely.
5. Have Fun with Your Fonts
Assuming you’re not running a mortuary (if you are, consider Garamond, but steer clear of Comic Sans), you may want to engineer an upbeat appearance for your marketing materials, and font choices are an ideal place to start with that. Play with fonts that offer different shapes, curves and angles. You may find that you can use one font for headings, and a slightly or even totally different font for paragraphs. Such 
artistic decisions can make your materials appear more dynamic and attract the potential reader – and potential customer.
4. Deviate from the Norm and Get Noticed
The most common fonts out there are just that – common. Subconsciously, we all find things to be dull if we have seen them ten thousand times before. Fonts are no different. So while you don’t have to choose Wing Dings or something similarly silly as the font for your collaterals, you may want to consider the most typical fonts as off-limits. Try a font that has the same integrity, clarity, and aesthetic appeal as an old favorite, but that adds an extra bit of flair, a bit more boldness, or slightly different character.
3. Don’t Do It Alone
Every business uses fonts. Why not shop around to see what others are doing? Looking at websites and marketing materials from businesses you admire can give you insight as to what types of font choices you would like to emulate. Looking at disastrous marketing materials, on the other hand, is educational because it gives you a clearer picture of what kinds of fonts and combinations of fonts you’d like to avoid. Learn from others’ mistakes and successes and you’re well on your way to creating the most appealing business cards, flyers, posters, and signs that your business can benefit from.
2. Choose Fonts That Match Your Brand
Decide in advance what your company image is or what you would like it to be, and then screen fonts with that ideal in mind to see which best reflect your intended impression. Whether you want to evoke an impression of trustworthiness, femininity, creativity, antiquity, somberness, joy, or any other host of characteristics, there is a font that will do the trick. Just keep a firm grasp on what traits you seek, and one will stand out to you as you browse.
1. Use the Right Size
Bigger is not always better. At the same time, too small is never a good thing. The size you choose to print your font in is just as important as the font itself, whether the text is for business cards, a magazine cover, or a vinyl banner or sign. People will often not even bother to read information if it appears to be too small and crammed onto a page. The accepted guidelines for business cards, for example, are to choose a font between 12 and 15 points for your name or company name. Your title should be about 7 or 8 points in size. Your contact information should be about 1 point smaller than your name. This is a guideline, not a rule, and since fonts of different styles carry different sizes, you will want to play around before finalizing your design. But the bottom line is that you never want to neglect font size when laying out any printed materials.
If you keep these five tips in mind, you’ll end up with a font that both reflects your brand in the proper light, and will invite consumers to read the important information you are presenting in your marketing materials. Happy printing!
About Jenny DixonJennifer has been apart of the EliteFlyers.com team for over 15 years. She brings a deep understanding of web marketing, thoughtful strategies, that she's able to design, manage, print, deliver multi-media campaigns to meet all client's goals. Her personal portfolio includes high-end design and printing of business cards, flyers, post cards for elite businesses and individuals from all over the world.
