Ep 275| Choosing Emotional Typeface - 3 AI Tools & 5 Hacks
4 Oct 2024 · 15 min
This is a podcast episode titled "Ep 275| Choosing Emotional Typeface - 3 AI Tools & 5 Hacks" recorded in October 2024. The content features Jagadeesh P delivering a detailed monologue on the importance of typeface selection in design, focusing on emotional connection, readability, professionalism, and technical aspects like kerning, tracking, and leading. Jagadeesh P also discusses neuroscience behind font choices, offers practical advice, and promotes his live webinars. The episode is educational and targeted at designers seeking to improve their typography skills.
This is a very important video, what we are recording now. Typeface is actually called a live face. Designers out there are very confused what typeface to choose or what kind of a document are they preparing for. Are they doing a logo design? Are they doing a typeface selection for their paragraph, for their case study, for their project, for their presentation, for their documentation? Everything narrows down to one thing, emotion. When you are able to give an emotion to your typeface, so that connects with the people, that connects with the brand, and that connects a greater output in your project. Okay, so in this podcast we are going to see how you can able to use the emotions to connect with that brand, to choose a certain typeface in order to reflect that. And I'm going to also tell you some basic terminologies, what can learn and how we can do it. Okay, so take a lot of notes. Let's jump in. Welcome to this episode, guys. Thank you for staying Tuning here in design for change. Very important topic, typeface selection. People have a problem. The reason why I'm telling you is they are choosing randomly some typeface which is available in their library, which is available in their software. Like let's say you use Helvetica, you use Montserrat, you use Poppins, which is available for me, Jagdish. That's why I'm choosing. No, there is a science behind why we are doing it. It is actually a very precision. It is an impact which creates in your document, which makes the people connect with you in a certain way. It makes you connect with the brand in a certain way. So that is why the consciousness is very important. Okay, I'll tell you why it is very important. First of all, you want to engage emotionally with your user. You need to use a right typeface. Let's say if your brand is a trust, let's say if your brand is a safety, let's say if your brand is more of connecting. So each of these keywords is very different. Each of these keywords emits a different type of an emotion, right? So based on this emotion, you need to have some kind of a picture in your mind what is the typeface which I can bring for these people to really create an engagement. Ultimately, if these keywords are not clear, what happens is slowly you will miss out the flow why people are really connecting with this brand. And you can also take some case studies why certain brands have really big, become big by understanding this matter and taking it like, let's say banking. Banking is more of a trust, right? So you need, you should not Use any decorative kind of a typeface. You should not use any kind of ornamental typeface. You should not keep a dynamic typeface. You should keep it very professional, very strict capital letters. Like maybe you can use Times New Roman. That's a serif based font, right? See, anything which is having the legs is called serif. Anything which is little modern, it looks called sans serif. Please understand this. It's a very, very simple terminology. Anything, like let's say it has a legs. It has a what you call a small, small, like let's say a commas or a hyphens in their, in their typeface, in the bottom, in their top. So that's actually called a small legs. Okay, maybe you can, you can. Very easy language. If I put it. That's called legs. Okay, so it's a very, very simple terminology. It's a classical typeface called sans based. Anything which is modern, which doesn't have this legs straightforward, that's called a sans serif based. Okay, so that's a very simple way to put it. Not in a very technical way. I've just tried to explain you in a simple way. Okay, but you should choose what typeface really matters for your brand, what you choose.
Okay.
Second, it increases the readability. See, when you give sufficient space between the characters, between the words, between the letters, between the lines. So that improves the readability a lot. See, there are many technical terminologies to it. We'll see.
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Ultimately, readability is very important. First is called kerning. Kerning is a space between individual letters. Guys, let's say if you have a letter called podcast. The gap between the P and O is called kerning. The gap between the O and D is called kerning. The more you increase it, the better you will be. In fact, if you wanted to see a live demo of it, you can go to my YouTube channel, live stream, where I've recorded and showcased a lot of case studies live in front of you. You can able to watch it, okay. When you're listening to this podcast in the travel, that's okay. But if you want to see it live, you can also go and experience it in my YouTube channel. Okay, that's the kerning. Tracking the space between all the characters in the text block. Like, let's say you have a word called tracking. Okay, let's take podcast itself.
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Podcast starting from the P to T, whatever is the entire size you increased and decreased. That's called tracking. Same like that. Like let's say leading. Leading is between. Let's say if you have a first line as a podcast, second line as a YouTube, third line as a LinkedIn. So the the distance between the podcast and the LinkedIn in the next two lines, the gap is called leading. The more gap you keep the different meaning it conveys. The more cramped you keep, it conveys a different meaning. So based on the context, based on the emotion, what you wanted to really choose, you can able to play with these elements. There is called lettering.
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Overall, the style and the design of the typeface letter is called lettering. So understand this basic terminology. There is something called ascendos. When you have a typeface which is like a baseline, you draw a line, two lines, which is in the middle of the each typeface. Anything which is going beyond these two lines, it's called ascendance. Anything which is going below this, it's called descenders. Like let's say if you take a character, Y, small letter Y, the Y character goes little below, right? So that's called descender. So let's say if you have something like F, the top of the F goes above the baseline, that's called ascenders. So it's a very, very simple terminology, guys. When you put it in Google you will get this clarity. But ideally when you go to my YouTube channel, I would have shown you live also how it is, okay? This is about readability. Third is about professionalism. See, typeface maintains a clarity on what kind of an industry you're going to use. Are you going to use it in the healthcare? Are you going to use it in a technology based industry? Are you going to use it in a letterhead, Are you going to use it in a website, Are you going to use it in a mobile app or anything. Whatever is your convenience, whatever is your brand, what you're having, based on which you need to choose all this typeface in a different way, okay? Because all these things as a context matters a lot. When you choose that, if you use it randomly, what happens? You don't end up anywhere having some clarity. Okay? So think about it. This is very, very important. So first is engaging with your users emotionally. Second is readability. Third is professionalism. Understand these three things. In fact, I'll tell you some misconception, guys. Lot of people think font is all about look and feel. Technical terms don't matter. Font is like randomly choosing anything is there in your library and doing it. No, it's completely wrong. It has a proper science and a method to do it. So that is why we are talking about the emotional, we are talking about what does the brand really require and what are the tone you wanted to communicate? And then play around this technical terminologies. I hope you got the clarity in this right? So if you wanted to really do it, let me tell you some key strategies, guys. First of all, think about what are the emotional goal you wanted to associate with your brand? Is it a trust? Is it a dynamic, is it an energy, Is it a calm? Let's say if you're working on a spiritual kind of a brand, you're creating some website for them, or maybe you're creating some product for them. Think about calm, relax. What is that spirituality feeling? Let's say if you're designing a logo for a church or a mosque or something like a temple. Okay, but think about that. If you're working on a personal development coach, or if you're working on a fitness brand, if you're looking on a personal website for an architect. So think about that emotion and the character and the personality of that person or a brand and then bring that element here. Once you are able to identify the emotional goal, then you can choose what kind of a tone you wanted to communicate. Whether it's a professional, playful, modern. And then you play around with this, kerning, tracking, leading, lettering, spacing ascended descendants accordingly. Because ultimately, if you're not choosing this carefully, what happens? Your emotional goal itself is wrong and you won't connect with your audience better. The reason being your font will communicate something, but your internal message will be very different. So both of these things should match Jagdish, how to match it? You will have to first find out the user goal exactly. And then try to understand and interview that person to get a clarity. What is the real intention of him building this brand, building this website, building this exact mobile app and then go and choose your type. Don't go a premature way of doing it by just like that, randomly creating some elements. Just think about it, ask questions with your user and then try to design it from the beginning. Because lot of people don't put effort, they just want something like, just like that we are using it. No, you have to do a user research to understand these terminologies a little before going and sitting in your Illustrator or Canva or anything. Okay, that's a very important thing. First of all, there are many fonts available, guys like let's say Helvetica, Roboto, Futura, Times, New Robon, Calibri, Latto, Railway. If you go to Google fonts, you will find lots and lots of fonts available there. In fact, in my YouTube live stream. I've shown you the live demos. Okay, so the reason why I'm telling you this is these are all the tools which is available to choose SkypeFace. If you go to Google fonts, you will know the history of the font, how much people are using it across the world, according to country wise, what are the history and the relevance of this font typeface for your brand? You can find that relevancy and then bring it to it. Let's say if your brand is like more formal, you can use Helvetica. Helvetica has a formal nature of showing it.
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In fact, Helvetica is a one shot fit for all guys. Let's say if you're having some fever or cold or anything, or anything, you take paracetamol, right? It takes care of everything. So same like that, Helvetica takes care of everything. If you're completely confused about using font, just use Helvetica. That's it. It works because Helvetica pretty much covers everything, 60 to 70% of the global font and the logos and other things are designed only based on Helvetica because that fits for everybody.
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So think about it. And also you can play around with all of these technical elements. Okay, so now let me explain you, what are the neuroscience behind it? See, every time when I talk about design topic, I don't skip this neuroscience because you need to understand neurologically what's happening inside our brain for each of this topic. When you design a correct font, your cognitive fluency will be really good. When you have a well spaced font, when you have a reduced cognitive load for the people, when you have a choose an emotional response for it, it creates emotion inside your user, it provokes that, it creates a more feeling of connecting with the brand. Like let's say sans serif feels modern, serif feels tradition. So think about that emotion. Like decorative feels ornamental, like classical feels like more established brand. So think about the brand called Ferrari. Think about a brand called Louisville. Think about Game of Thrones, the movies, the serial, right? So all these things are very classical in nature. They choose serif. So how you choose that influences inside your brain. Okay, so the cognitive fluency and the emotional response is very important. Okay, Jagdish, what happens in little time? I'm choosing it all with emotional care and everything is fine. But what happens finally if you use a legible typeface, guys? It increases your brand trust by 28 percentage. It improves your engagement by up to 21 percentage. By choosing the right one, it Makes your user process the information 30 times faster. When you use the right typeface, please understand the statistics. Guys, I'm also suggesting you one tool called Font Joy Kern Type Game. So these font this tools, AI tools will help you pair certain fonts. Like let's say if you're building a heading, subheading text, call to action, emotion, headings, a lot of things you have in your one case study. What kind of a typeface will work good? You cannot have one typeface for everything, right? Because certain typeface will look good for numbers, certain typeface will look good for headings, certain typeface will look good for paragraph. So if you wanted to pair, you can go to this FontJoy. It's an AI generated tool. You can just put your typeface there and you can create automated fonts which is more proven in the market. If you are a beginner, please use the templated way first before going and experimenting yourself.
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If you're an experienced guy, no problem. You can experiment with it and you can choose what type is really paired better for you. And in that font jar you can read about the history of that font. And also you can read about how this font jaw font padding really works. Once you understand this font padding, then you will see, guys, in your case study in your document, in your website, in your mobile app, you will have a seamless content flow. People will not feel very awkward, people will not feel very different. Right now your portfolio is looking really bad because you don't know the science about it. So think about it and go and apply it and you will see the huge difference happening. Let me give you an activity, guys, take out your one earlier project. Spend next few minutes like let's say 10 to 15 minutes. Go to Google Font, go to FontJoy, okay? It's a free site. You can able to create your account and start using it. Choose best font which pairs well with your case study. Let's say if your case study is about E service, you're doing it in website. So think about what is that E service. Think about that emotion. Think about that keyword. Based on that keyword, choose serif or sans serif. Based on serif, choose some typeface which is round edge or sharp edge or maybe dynamic. What is your brand really trying to convey? And then you use of font padding. If you do the steps properly, guys, definitely you will have a clarity in your document.
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Step one is emotion. Step two is choosing the right face for that emotion. Step three is choosing whether sans or whether it is serif. Or sans serif. Fourth is using the exact typeface inside that like let's say latto or railway or anything. And then fifth is using the exact font padding which works better. And then going and implementing and check it out once you're able to iterate it one or two times, guys, definitely you will have a clarity in your document the moment when you do it. I'm telling you your portfolio will look much better than the other people out there looking to put some random font here and there. Make it up.
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I hope this podcast would have given you clarity in how you can able to use it. Much better guys. Okay, I understand in podcast you cannot show some visual element, but that's why I'm asking you to come to my live webinar which happens on every Sunday 11 o'. Clock. It's free of cost. Link is available here because this webinar will not be free anymore. It will be charged based on rs499. So till it is free, please take an advantage. I don't know the time when you're clicking this link, it may become payment also. So take an advantage. Go and claim that gift. It's free of cost. You can understand in 90 days how you can able to 3x your paycheck in UI UX design if you're already designer. If you're completely a fresher in design in 90 days you should be able to at least cross circumstances. 6 LP's salary in Indian rupees. It's highly possible even if you are completely fresher. So because typeface is not the full part of the design, it's a small part of it, maybe 1 to 2%. But if you wanted to know the full part of design, starting from getting clarity in design, starting from choosing the right industries, starting to apply for the right industries and getting the right job at the right time, with the right salary, with the right work life balance, you need to come to my webinar to know it. I highly highly invite you for that free webinar and take an advantage and see you live there guys.
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