Typography is the beginning of the corporate visual identity design process and plays centre stage in any brand's journey. Choosing typography for a brand is always a big challenge: let's not forget that typeface shapes its essence and is a key element in constructing an identity.
That said, we can sense that using typography well is as vital as it is beneficial when it comes of communication. Do you know how to do this? Do you know how to choose the right typeface for each occasion and project? Are you aware of what a custom typeface can add to your brand?
Our years of experience and today's technological advances are the cornerstones on which we analyse, design and perfect each of the elements that make up visual communication.
There are lots of elements that comprise the identity of a product or service, but the first one is the font. That's why we develop and implement typographic design plans, because we want to be by your side from the first steps of creating your visual identity.
Fonts are much more than symbols: they're a crucial and decisive element when conveying messages and sharing information.
They're not just simple lines and strokes drawn at random, but they tell us a story, trigger emotions and get a specific message across.
Fonts aren't just a vehicle for understanding and reading messages. Typographic characters can perform magic. Really? Yes. Because not only do they communicate the information already contained in the word, but they also construct and convey a subliminal message at the same time.
From our point of view, fonts have the immense power to condense and represent the brand's essence and directly influence the perception that the public has of it.
That's why typography is often used to create the unique selling point of a brand or product with respect to the competition. Its role makes us to want to find out about its origin, understand, explore the reason for its selection and see how it works for brands to fulfil their mission.
Typography isn't just about characters.
Typography has character.
Fonts are not just a vehicle for reading messages. Typography isn't just about characters. Typography has character. It's transformed into values, personality, styles. The harmony of each element defines the identity of a successful brand. We can't talk about effective brand positioning without first working on the importance and synergy of typefaces and their elements.
A unified and coherent image that faithfully convey a brand's value proposition could never be achieved without a good choice of typography. It's not an easy task, as you need to get across a unique personality and good readability. What's more, you have to support the positioning strategy and allow information to be prioritised. It's very important for this choice not to be subject to fads or passing trends. As in other areas of design, unless it belongs to a defined strategy, it's a big mistake to create shooting stars that are incapable of lasting over time.
Major brands have been developing customised fonts since the very start, helping them position themselves in the market. We provide services for new and old brands alike, giving them the advice and tools required to design and learn how to use fonts to connect with their target audience more naturally.
Our starting point is detecting and understanding needs.
Is an expressive typography required? Do we need a neutral typeface intended for writing long texts? What will the size be? Will it be used in digital environments, on paper or on physical items? How do we make it readable?
First of all, we analyse how brands want to be perceived and should be perceived, and then we define the best strategy to build or enhance their brand expression through typography.
The typography that will go on the back of a football team's shirt (which needs to be read on television with players in constant movement) and the typography seen through a high pixel density screen are not created in the same way. Neither do we design a rational type of letter, earmarked for large swathes of text, in the same way as an expressive typeface that tells a story in itself through its morphology and its attributes.
We have no limits when it comes to formats or disruptive ideas. We channel all our efforts into enhancing the positioning of brands based on design solutions. We believe that custom fonts are a very powerful means to secure a direct and accurate approach to different types of audiences and the consequent brand humanisation.
From the analogue world to the digital world, we have the necessary tools to provide all types of services in terms of typography. Responsive typography, super families, SVG fonts, web fonts, lettering, calligraphy, OpenType fonts, colour fonts, etc. Our team has specialists in typography and its application in the corporate and editorial world, as well as for brands.
A good or a bad selection of typography can build the identity of a brand or completely destroy it. That's why we strive to provide custom solutions geared towards brand differentiation and increasing brand assertiveness.
We have no limits when it comes to formats or disruptive ideas.
Typographic characters convey messages beyond the words they represent.
Typographic elements are part of each brand's essence: they're the first thing that is perceived and remembered. The consumer unconsciously works to remember and associate colours, shapes and textures. With only a partial glance at a logo or other written communication, the consumer is often able to successfully identify who the sender of the message is.
Do we know what we want to communicate and to who? How and when? The correct selection of a typeface is key to highlighting the information you want to communicate. Fonts are part of the tone and content that has to be conveyed, because their morphology, spacing, rhythm, special characteristics (OpenType features), lines and sizes are the variables of the typography that help outline a unique and long-lasting image.
Typefaces tend to last over time, as they're the invariable visual attribute of brands. Although we work on changing campaigns and updating images, typefaces form part of the most precious asset over time.
Thanks to collaborations with major brands and after more than two decades of experience in the market, we boast the knowledge and tools required for the development of custom typographic projects.
We work on creating new fonts or fine-tuning existing fonts.
While brands work to develop specialised products and services in their buyer personas, we take care of streamlining your communication processes and building the perception that you really want to embed in the consumer's mind, based on custom typefaces.
To create a unique and distinctive brand image, we research, analyse and design typographic families tailored to our customers' measurements and needs. What's more, a personalised typeface helps not only to differentiate the brand from its competition, but also to register types that are only their property.
The logos of major brands have unique elements. Seeking out the differential value and working to enhance it is our cornerstone for securing typefaces that depict the values associated with a brand or a product, which increase its presence and make it unique.
Why a custom typeface?
These are typefaces that adapt to the customers' channels and needs. Formats, character coding, supported languages, special typefaces for paper, special typefaces for digital, use for headlines, use for text body, merchandising, physical objects, responsive behaviour... There are many variables to look at and we can only reach the ideal solution if we work with them from day one.
While some brands resort to bland and overused typefaces, thus sacrificing their capacity for differentiation and identity creation, other brands understand that all the attributes that make up the brand must be unique in order to offer a unique value proposition. We take care of all that, creating authenticity and originality from designs intended and developed to be disruptive.
Custom typefaces fulfil their function, conveying a message, setting it to music and endowing it with a particular tone that adds layers of meaning to any text they feature in. What's more, the custom fonts we create meet all the most discerning technical
In addition to customisation, the typefaces that we create deliver these guarantees to our customers:
The fonts created are easily and naturally integrated into the rest of the brand's marketing plan. We build complete families of typefaces based on established logos while preserving the brand equity to take care of every single detail that may involve the brand.
Starting from scratch or adapting pre-existing material, we work on the design of typographic families with their custom styles (bold, italics, small caps, ligatures, fractions, contextual and stylistic alternatives, symbols, etc.) and each element that makes them up.
We group together the variables of a typographic design around three basic factors: weight or tone, width or proportion and inclination.
The main styles around which we could classify the fonts that we work with are: display, humanist, garalda, didone, mecano, linear, incise, script and manual.
Localised typefaces for global communication. Although it entails the development of several alphabets, we cover all the languages that a company requires according to its expansion plans. Latin Extended, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, etc. Neither dualities nor incomprehension: all messages will arrive correctly and we'll outline a consistent and unequivocal communication regardless of the platform or channel chosen for communication.
We perform tests and quality controls on systems and applications that corroborate and ensure the proper functioning of the fonts. We also provide free post-delivery support to guarantee the optimal integration and use of the product.
Custom typefaces are delivered in all the necessary font formats, which means customers can work within the different operating systems used by the brand: OTF, TTF, GX, WOFF, WOFF 2.0, EOT, SVG, etc.
Towards a visual identity
The evolution of typographic design has allowed us to carry out projects from different approaches. To ensure optimal selection, we ask ourselves and respond to these questions: What do we want to convey? What channel will we be communicating on? What is our target audience? With what tone of voice do we address them?
Below are the typefaces that best respond to our goal:Typefaces with Serif (Roman) that are divided into Ancient Roman, Modern Roman and Egyptian Roman. Typefaces without Serif (Paloseco) divided into Geometric, Neo-Grotesque and Humanist. Cursive typefaces (Script) that are divided into Gesture, Calligraphy and Gothic.Decorative typefaces (Display).
We like to place the status quo in quarantine. Question it. We modify and readjust the pre-established classifications in the world of design so that we can innovate with disruptive models that also fit our customers' goals.
The world of typography is huge and its selection and classification can be tackled from different approaches. What would our recommendation be? Use a customised, unique and proprietary typography to build a brand in the clearest, most precise, most unequivocal and most differential way.