FONTS, FONTS, FONTSAs McCloud says, “words are the ultimate abstraction”, and that they are. However, analyzing words a little further you can break it down to its font; the style in which it is presented. There are endless ways to manipulate text. You can make the text small or large, bold or italic, different colors, symbols instead of actual letters… Font can set the tone of what ever it is being used for. For example, if I was to write a college paper and typed the paper in ‘A FONT LIKE THIS’, not only would it be considered a joke and look unprofessional, chances are it would get a bad grade. On a business card, depending on the business of course, you would probably want a clean looking font for the print, versus the text used in the previous example. It would give customers a good perception about the company. On the other hand, if a balloon company were to print business cards, they would have a little more options of “fun” fonts to print on the cards, maybe some sort of balloon font. For the Beverly’s examples, #1 could be used for a cleaning product. It has somewhat of a non-typical style to it but isn’t to crazy and still pretty clean looking. Example #4 would definitely work for a child’s clothing line. With the flowers in place for the empty spaces and the almost balloon curving to the font definitely comes off more of fun and child like; definitely an attraction to kids. Fonts are definitely influential and can make a difference on how people may view your ad or what ever it is that has the text on it, or how serious they may take it.
Thinking about fonts is really very interesting. If you think about it, we have been socially conditioned since our childhood to associate different fonts with specific things. For example, the Disney spoof ad wouldn’t have been as effective if everyone wouldn’t have noticed and associated the distinct font with the Disney corporation. If a stop sign was written with some really frilly curly font, I bet people wouldn’t take it as seriously and they might not even recognize it as a road sign any longer. The type of font influences how people view a product more than most people realize. If a font is really bold with straight lines, one is more likely to take it seriously. Whereas a font such as #4 can be seen as childish, playful, and fun. This font is more likely to be the sign for a clothing store than say font #2 which is really plain and boring. The curviness and unstraight edges with flowers in the insets indicate something fun rather than a cleaning product or a bag of spaghetti. Font #5 looks like it could be associated with a TV show. Maybe a game show. Or even a murder mystery show or movie. The cut out letters somewhat resemble a ransom note or something to that effect. But this font would definitely not represent something serious because people simply cannot take this kind of font seriously. Our minds are conditioned to view plain fonts as serious and boring and decorated fonts as fun and entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI think that we as consumers have been exposed to various fonts since childbirth. As a young child, fonts that are fun, good-natured, and sprightly are going to attract someone more so than fonts that are bold, plain, and simple. Fonts were instituted to attract certain groups of people. Obviously font #4 would not be used for a restaurant or a bag of spaghetti. There is just not a connection between the two. However, when one compares font #4 to a young or adolescent age clothing line, everything makes sense. Check out the font on Route 66 Diner's webpage on the upper right hand corner, http://www.66diner.com/store/index.html,
ReplyDeleteLook familiar? I would have to say that font #3 could be the logo for a name of a classic restaurant. And as for font #1, just from instinct I think that that would be possibly a brand of spaghetti. The curvy smooth letters almost describe what it is trying to sell. Font represents products through the same appeals. Serious and bold fonts represent something strong and persuasive such as a STOP sign, whereas a font with flowers on it probably portrays a young girl's clothing line. It is just the way we have been exposed to fonts throughout our entire lives, flowers mean something and the letters on a STOP sign mean something different.
Other than an image itself, I'm mainly intrigued by the font or title of an object or item. Movies and music artist’s titles and fonts on their products reach to me because in a very abstract way, fonts express emotion. If a title has frilly tender emotional appeal I will probably pay no attention to it whatsoever. Fonts that intrigue me are something that show outgoing, sharp, and cut emotional tone. An example of an emotional appeal that fits this criteria would be the title from Fight Club. I was at the store one time just looking around and I saw the movie and it caught my attention because it is a simple font carved into a bar of soap. It appealed to me as intriguing as in what is the purpose of the soap, and the monotone title. The title is very simple: Fight Club, obviously a gathering of people for the sole purpose to fight. I was so amazed by the movie I read the book and found the significance of the soap. Here's the example (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/1/122423_3f85dffb4c.jpg). So I think it is a valid point to say that fonts express emotion in that they apply the emotion to their product so that it appeals to their consumer. Marketing departments aim to express their title through the emotion that relates to their product. Font #4 can relate to a girl’s doll franchise that’s a loose offshoot from Barbie. (i.e. Beverly’s Beach Cruiser, Beverly’s Collagen Injection Clinic, Beverly’s Divorce Case Suit Attire). The font has a very feminine appeal because of the flower designs and bubbly letters, so that would be an ideal choice to market a girl’s doll franchise. Font #3 looks like the font used for the Libby’s Diner on 4th and Central. I could not find a picture but trust me on this one. The emotional appeal I noticed was simple and comforting. A font used such as Outback Steakhouse may be flashy and has an adventurous appeal, but a simple diner on Route 66 is obviously long running so it provides a sort of honest home based appeal. So emotion is a prime factor in marketing a product to a consumer, it attracts the consumer to what they want.
ReplyDeleteReally good job discussing the idea that font affects perception. Joshua and Erin discuss level of “seriousness” implied by different fonts, while Erin and Jordan discuss social conditioning and associations. (Disney basically owns that font at this point—certainly in the legal sense but what I really mean is that it can’t be used for anything else—I’m certain there are other companies that have also achieved this type of brand recognition simply through font, but can’t think of any right now. Amazing that something as “simple” as font could be so powerful in terms of product branding.
ReplyDeleteErin also discusses #2 as “plain and boring”—so you don’t really ‘notice’ this font, right? (It’s way more abstract than something like Disney—even so, we still see a font like this in particular situations, as you all point out). But we don’t notice #2 in the same way we do #4 (and we probably don’t even notice fonts like #4 entirely consciously—we just automatically make the association of “fun” or “not serious”). Jordan also alludes to this in his comments about particular fonts having different “connections” (exactly). His observations about meaning are also insightful. We automatically attribute particular meaning (never forget that advertisers, political candidates, in short, people and companies with particular agendas or products to sell know this and they pay very close attention to it).
Finally I liked Anthony’s points about fonts used in movie posters or album covers—same thing is going on here—as well as his points about emotional reactions. Fonts want us to feel a certain way. I think you’re absolutely right, which is also related to metaphoric associations (this is a really good point that maybe you all can tell the class about tomorrow). Thanks for suggesting the fonts used in the 66 Diner sign and the movie poster for Fight Club. We can look at the Diner sign tomorrow, and I’m thinking Fight Club would be good to consider when we discuss movies next week.