Choosing Logo Fonts that Fit You: 5 Key Steps

A great deal of thought goes into every font used for a logo design. Experienced designers spend a lot of time and energy when choosing the best logo fonts to represent a company as they should. A logo font is a very important part of representing your company. While carefully choosing the appropriate font and the general idea for a logo can be extremely time-consuming, do not worry! We have created a simple guide with five key steps that will help you choose a logo font that fits you.

1. Review the Many Options of Logo Fonts

There is an endless amount of classic logo fonts available for free or purchase on the internet. Not only are there endless amounts, but new ones are being created regularly. These different fonts for logos can be broken down into a few different categories of serif, sans serif, and script. Each category provides different strengths and weaknesses for its logo fonts but all of them have a variety of good fonts for logos.

Serif Logo Fonts

Serif logo fonts can be identified by the unevenness of the width of the letters as well as the additional marks at the corner pieces of the letters. These identifying marks make these fonts easier to read in their print form. Most books make use of serif fonts. Some good and well-known examples of serif fonts are Times New Roman, Garamond, and Georgia. Serif fonts bring more of a classic logo font aura to the table. As mentioned previously, these fonts are better for companies who operate more face to face and aren’t solely as an online organization. Some better-known companies that make use of serif fonts as their logo fonts are Tiffany & Co. Time, and Mercedes-Benz. By choosing a serif logo font, all of these companies are appealing to their classic and old-fashioned, long-time-established nature.

Sans Serif Logo Fonts

Sans Serif logo fonts can be identified by their lack of serif indicators. Instead of extra marks sticking out from the letters, they are plain. The letters are all even in width and stroke. These fonts are without serifs. The benefit of sans serif fonts is that they are easier to read on the web. If you are reading an email from your phone or computer, it will be easiest to read the writing if the email is in a sans serif font. Some good and well-known examples of sans serif fonts are Helvetica, Avant-Garde, and Arial. Most of the companies who use sans serif fonts are based on technology or the web and mostly use their online platform. Some better-known companies that make use of sans serif fonts as their logo fonts are Google, Spotify, and Amazon. By choosing a sans serif logo font, all of these companies are appealing to their audience who encounters them most on the internet.

Script Logo Fonts

Script Logo Fonts can be identified due to their script or cursive nature. They stand out compared to most other fonts because they are most similar to handwriting. Script fonts provide more of a nostalgic feel to their words. One major downfall of script fonts is that they are often the hardest to read and some are nearly illegible. When choosing a script font, make sure that you are able to read what is written. Because these fonts are so individualized, people don’t often rely on the same ones for every project. Companies who choose to utilize script fonts as their logo fonts are likely attempting to make a statement about the energy of their company, depending on the font they choose. Some better-known companies that make use of script fonts are Coca-Cola, Sharpie, and Kleenex. By choosing scrip logo fonts, these companies are showing their personality and leaving an impression.

2. Choose Logo Fonts that Matches your Company

The best fonts for logos are ones that match the company they are depicting. It is important that you decide on a font that represents your overall company image and feel. Is your company part of an industry that is analytical, such as a law firm or IT company? You will probably want to go with a serif font. Or does your company work with youth and rely heavily on the internet? You might want to go with a sans serif font. Do you own a daycare? You might choose to use a script font. What do you want to communicate to your consumer base with your logo font? Good logo fonts begin to tell the viewer things about the company before they know or have seen anything else. Choosing the wrong fonts for logos can give the wrong impression. Understanding your customers and your company image are some of the first things you should consider when choosing a font for your logo. You want to match what you are with your logo font.

3. Match your Logo Font with your Logo Icon

This step works best if you already have a logo icon before choosing your logo font. Pay close attention to the stylistic elements of your logo icon. Consider edges, lines, and textures. Is your logo icon angular or round? Are lines thick or thin? It is best to choose a font that complements the overall design of your logo. This will keep every element uniform with one another, thus projecting an overall professional look to your customers. If your logo icon is evenly symmetrical, a sans serif font might be a good choice. If your logo icon is very sketchy or classical-looking, a serif font could be best. Serif fonts are traditionally more of the classic logo fonts. If your logo icon has a lot of swirls or uniqueness to it, a script font could be the way to go.

Fonts used in logos are just as important as the logo icons themselves but they become a winning combination when they go well together. Take a look at the font logo and logo icon for Target. They choose a sans serif font that has simple-to-read letters that are completely even in width. Their logo icon, the bullseye symbol is completely symmetrical and even widths. These work really well together. Another example is from the company Wells Fargo. They use a serif font to represent their long history as a bank. This works well with their horse-drawn carriage logo that also alludes to their past. For script font logos, a lot of times, they use their script fonts for logos instead of also having icons. Examples of this are Ford and Barbie. Even though they do not have a separate icon, their font logo still represents who they are as a company.

4. Choose Legible Logo Fonts

Different fonts are easier to read depending on how they are presented to an audience. Take into account where your logo will be placed and used the most. If letterheads and various printed documents are the primary places your logo will be seen by your customers, you can be free to choose a script font or other elaborate typefaces. However, if your logo will be used outside your building, then choosing a bold, clean font will be best. As previously mentioned, serif fonts are best for printed items while sans serif is great for on the web. Typically though, they can both be read on any platform. Script logo fonts are the ones you need to most lookout for. Their elaborate curls and swirls can make it hard to read or distinguish the letters. If you can’t read it, don’t use it. If you can read it, make sure that others can too. Your font logo ideas always need to prioritize the legibility of your fonts.

An example of a hard to read font is Lime Blossom Caps. Each letter is capitalized and covered with an array of blossoms, as described. While this font is very pretty, it can take a moment to read what is actually written. It is a great font for a coloring book design, but so good for your flower shop. An incredibly difficult font to read is Maelstrom. While each letter is very artistically designed with thick black lines that curl around, when put together to form words, it becomes a difficult to read line of darkness. A third example of a difficult-to-read font is called Crashed Scoreboard. This font mimics letters created by an electronic scoreboard. While it is legible, it takes a moment to allow your eyes to adjust and make out the message amongst all the lines. Just like these three fonts, there are many artistic and interesting fonts available on the internet that are also very hard to read. There are always situations where they can be properly put to use but having them as your main logo font for your company is not the best choice. You want to make sure that your audience doesn’t have to struggle to read who you are. In this case, your logo font needs to be more functional than aesthetically pleasing.

5. Test out Your Logo Font

A great way to decide on the best font for your logo is to simply test a few out. You can first start off by creating a logo with a generic and reliable font, such as Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica. You can then pick a more elaborate font, such as Monotype Corsiva, Lucida Handwriting, or Cooper Black. Print each variation of your logo and hold it in front of you or put them all on the same sheet of paper beside each other. This will give you a better idea of how it will look in physical form and how they compare to each other. If you are still stuck, a great way to come up with logo font ideas is to look at well-known companies and what fonts they use. Talking with a friend or other trusted individual can also help you come up with some font ideas for logos.

It is important to know that most likely, every font available is already being used by someone. Don’t worry about that. Nike, Gillette, PayPal, Red Bull, Domino’s, and In-N-Out Burger all use a form of Futura in their logo fonts. Yet, they are still recognizable and different in their own way due to their logo icon and colors. Good fonts are going to be used more than once. Another example of this is with the font Helvetica. The companies BMW, Panasonic, The North Face, Target, Jeep, and Verizon all use a form of it. The best font for a logo is whatever one works best for your company. Testing out your logo font can help you decide on your ideal fonts for logo design.

Creating the Logo Font that Fits You

Now that you know the key five steps to choosing a logo font that fits you, you can create it. Using an online logo maker can help with this process. Try out GraphicSprings. Using our platform, you can quickly make multiple logos and choose the final one for your business. It’s easy to use and doesn’t require previous graphic design knowledge or fancy programs. In the past, when trying to create your own logo font, you would have to rely on your ability to use difficult and expensive programs. This takes up a lot of time and resources. Fortunately, GraphicSprings provides a different way to get the same result.

All you need is access to the internet and a little bit of time. Simply type in your company’s name. Then choose from our many logo icons available. We have a very large library available. You can either scroll through our categories of icons or use our search tool to find something specific. Last, you can start editing on our easy-to-use platform. With our program, you can choose the logo font and much more. Edit the colors, shapes, sizes, and elements within your logo. Once you are done designing, you can choose from our many packages depending on your needs. We have small packages that have just the basics of your logo. We also have larger packages that offer much more such as different files of your logo, stationery design, social media covers, and much more. Then ta da, you have your logo font and logo icon complete.

In essence, font choice is extremely important when designing a new logo for your business—more important than what business owners acknowledge it for. Take time and choose various fonts that you feel compliment your business. You will reap the benefits if you take the time and effort in putting some thought into your business logo. Get started by dabbling with our free online logo maker, GraphicSprings, today!