Typography has all the time been the quiet spine of branding. It shapes how manufacturers converse, really feel, and are remembered. However this is the issue: the fonts which might be best to make use of for branding hardly ever have actual persona, and those with persona typically aren’t sensible sufficient to stay inside a full model system.
After years of constructing manufacturers, we saved hitting the identical wall. Not as a result of there aren’t sufficient fonts (there are actually 1000’s), however as a result of so a lot of them really feel interchangeable. Or those that really really feel distinctive and ownable? They’re already in all places, overused to demise.
Quite a lot of sort foundries understandably deal with mass-market wants: ultra-neutral workhorse sans serifs, or fonts which might be mainly only a barely hotter, narrower, rounder, or “friendlier” cousin of one thing that already exists. These fonts do their job. They’re versatile. They’re secure. They promote nicely. However security is not what builds distinction.
When all the pieces begins to really feel like a variation on Helvetica, branding blurs collectively.
The manufacturers we bear in mind had typographic balls
Traditionally, a few of the most iconic manufacturers have been daring sufficient to let typography carry actual emotion and character. Coca-Cola constructed an id so distinctive that its script grew to become inseparable from the model itself. Heat, nostalgia, human connection, all baked into the letterforms. IBM used typography to venture precision and intelligence lengthy earlier than “model techniques” have been even a factor. MTV went in the other way: a consistently shifting, expressive sort that mirrored youth tradition and rise up slightly than uniformity.
Nike makes use of daring, forceful typography to strengthen power and momentum. Disney constructed a complete emotional universe round a whimsical sort that immediately alerts creativeness. The New York Occasions depends on typography to speak credibility and belief.
These weren’t impartial selections. They have been emotional ones. They usually made these manufacturers unmistakable.
Then all the pieces bought environment friendly
As branding grew to become extra systematised and scalable, a whole lot of that emotion bought sanded down. Effectivity quietly changed expression. Everybody began optimising for “versatility” and “accessibility” (which, do not get me mistaken, matter), however someplace alongside the best way, we misplaced the bizarre, the daring, the opinionated. In a world saturated with manufacturers, distinctiveness is not non-compulsory anymore. It is survival.
The customized sort entice
When budgets permit, we design customized typefaces for purchasers. It is an unbelievable solution to create deep ownability. However let’s be actual: customized typography is not accessible to most manufacturers. It is costly, time-intensive, and sometimes fully out of attain for smaller groups or rising firms.
So what are they purported to do? Hold biking by way of the identical 20 fashionable fonts everybody else is utilizing, hoping this time it feels recent? Retail fonts completely have the facility to construct nice manufacturers—however provided that they’re designed with strong model techniques in thoughts, not simply posters or one-off editorial layouts.
Meaning eager about real-world use: headlines, physique copy, digital interfaces, packaging, movement, scale.
We want fonts which might be:
– Strong sufficient to hold a complete model system
– Distinctive sufficient that they do not really feel like all the pieces else
– Versatile sufficient to work throughout mediums
– Truly accessible to studios and types with out large budgets
However the trade nonetheless skews towards both ultra-safe workhorses or costly customized. Not sufficient lives in that candy spot between expressive and sensible.
Typography within the period of AI
AI will make all the pieces look the identical. We’re already seeing it. Most AI-generated photos share the identical aesthetic. Each template library gives the identical layouts. Manufacturers are beginning to blur collectively in methods we have not seen for the reason that peak Swiss-modernist takeover of the early 2000s—besides now it is occurring at web pace.
And it is about to worsen. Deepfakes are getting so good that even consultants cannot all the time inform what’s actual. Images? Questionable. Video? Questionable. Illustration? Most likely AI. We’re coming into an period the place folks will crave proof of human craft greater than ever, as a result of they actually will not be capable to belief what they’re seeing.
However typography? A really nice, human typeface nonetheless requires a human. A skilled designer who understands rhythm, optical stability, persona, and voice. AI can generate concepts for letterforms, positive, however sort design is much behind picture technology. That is possible as a result of vector design is way later to AI than raster imagery.
Customized typography is about to develop into one of the highly effective methods for manufacturers to sign: a human made this.
In a world the place everybody has entry to the identical AI instruments, templates, and inventory libraries, proudly owning stunning, well-crafted typography is perhaps the best solution to really stand out. Not simply because it seems completely different, however as a result of it proves you cared sufficient to construct one thing with intention as a substitute of hitting “generate”.
Particularly since, for now, no actually purposeful AI typeface generator works at scale. Loads declare they do—however they’re actually simply beginning factors or inspiration instruments, not one thing you’ll be able to depend on as an actual sort design workflow.
The manufacturers that win within the subsequent few years will not be those with the slickest photos, images, or movies. They will be those that really feel unmistakably human. And I believe typography is among the few locations the place humanity remains to be plain, the place folks can nonetheless immediately see a beautiful customized font or lettering and really feel: a human made this.
