The Psychology of Fonts | Fonts That Evoke Emotion

Summary

In this video, Daisy Ein from Envato Tuts Plus explores the psychology of fonts and their ability to evoke motion and emotion. She discusses how fonts can visually communicate and influence perception, using examples of serif, slab serif, sans serif, modern, script, and display fonts. Daisy emphasizes the importance of understanding the target audience and choosing the right font to convey the intended message effectively. The video also encourages viewers to check out Envato Elements for a vast library of fonts and design resources.

Takeaways

• 😀 Fonts are powerful tools for communication that can convey messages beyond the words they spell out.
• 🎨 The visual qualities of fonts can help designers connect with their audience on a deeper level.
• 👩‍🎨 Daisy Ein, an illustrator, designer, and developer, discusses the psychology of fonts in a video from Envato Tuts+.
• 🔍 The script explores how different types of fonts can evoke motion and visually communicate different emotions or characteristics.
• 📚 Envato Elements offers a vast library of fonts and other design resources, all available for a single subscription fee.
• 💡 Understanding the target audience is crucial for designers to effectively use fonts that resonate with their preconceived notions and experiences.
• 🔑 Serif fonts, with their small brackets at the ends, are associated with stability, tradition, intellect, and formality.
• 🏗️ Slab serif fonts, with their chunky and block-like serifs, convey a sense of endurance, strength, and power.
• 🚀 Sans serif fonts, lacking serifs, are linked to progressiveness, informality, openness, and friendliness.
• 💎 Modern sans-serif fonts, often with geometric inspiration, can communicate luxury and elegance, suitable for high-end products.
• 📝 Script fonts, with their varied personalities, can range from romantic and luxurious to informal and friendly, depending on the stroke style.
• 🌟 Display fonts, with their unique visual characteristics, are ideal for emphasis and can significantly impact the overall design's mood and message.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video by Daisy Ein from Envato Tuts+?

The video focuses on the psychology of fonts, particularly how different types of fonts can evoke motion and visually communicate with an audience.

What is the role of visual qualities in font design according to the video?

Visual qualities in font design help convey and connect with the audience, going beyond just the words they spell out.

Why is it important for designers to know their target audience when choosing a font?

Knowing the target audience allows designers to play into preconceived ideas and better communicate with that audience through the chosen font's visual attributes.

What is the significance of the color and shape of a heart in the video's example?

The color and shape of a heart are used to demonstrate how visual elements can be interpreted differently based on an individual's background, experiences, and perspective.

How does the video suggest that humans engage with visual content compared to textual content?

The video suggests that humans can be more engaged with visual content than textual content due to our tendency to anthropomorphize and connect with visual elements.

What are the typical associations with serif fonts according to the video?

Serif fonts are associated with stability, tradition, intellect, and formality.

What is unique about slab serif fonts compared to traditional serif fonts?

Slab serif fonts have chunky and block-like serifs, which gives them a heavier and more robust aesthetic, often associated with endurance, strength, and power.

What keywords are often associated with sans-serif fonts in the video?

Sans-serif fonts are associated with progressiveness, informality, openness, and friendliness.

How does the video describe the impact of rounding off geometric sans-serif fonts?

Rounding off geometric sans-serif fonts changes their communication style, making them appear more informal and potentially more suitable for a younger audience.

What are some of the personality traits of script fonts as discussed in the video?

Script fonts can be romantic, formal, luxurious, informal, or friendly, depending on their design and the way the strokes are presented.

Why are display fonts particularly effective for points of emphasis in design?

Display fonts are effective for points of emphasis because they often have unique visual characteristics that make them stand out and are not suitable for body copy in paragraphs.

What is the final advice given by Daisy Ein regarding the use of fonts in design?

The final advice is to remember that fonts communicate beyond their spelling and to use this understanding to better communicate with the audience through thoughtful font selection.

Outlines

00:00

🔠 The Psychology of Fonts

This paragraph introduces the concept that fonts can communicate beyond their literal words, using visual qualities to connect with an audience. Daisy Ein, an illustrator, designer, and developer from Envato Tuts Plus, discusses the psychology of fonts and their ability to evoke emotion. The paragraph also promotes Envato Elements as a resource for fonts and other design assets, and encourages viewers to check out a related tutorial by Grace for additional insights. The discussion begins with a basic example of how color can change the interpretation of a shape, emphasizing the importance of understanding the target audience's preconceived notions to effectively communicate through design.

05:01

📘 Exploring Different Font Types and Their Communication

This paragraph delves into various types of fonts and their associated psychological impacts. Serif fonts, characterized by small brackets at the end of strokes, are linked to stability, tradition, intellect, and formality. Slab serif fonts, with their chunky and block-like serifs, convey endurance, strength, and power. Sans serif fonts, lacking serifs, are associated with progress, informality, openness, and friendliness, and are often used in tech and innovative industries. Modern sans-serif fonts, inspired by geometric shapes, are seen as luxurious and elegant, while rounded versions can appear more informal and suitable for younger audiences. Script fonts, which can range from romantic and luxurious to informal and friendly, are influenced by the personality of handwriting. Display fonts, with their unique visual characteristics, are best suited for emphasis rather than body copy. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of considering how fonts communicate beyond their spelling, including line, shape, color, and proximity, to effectively convey messages to the viewer.

Keywords

💡Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed. In the video, typography is central to the theme as it discusses how fonts can communicate beyond just words, using visual qualities to connect with an audience.

💡Psychology of Fonts

The psychology of fonts refers to the emotional and cognitive responses that different typefaces can evoke in people. The video explores this concept, demonstrating how certain fonts can suggest motion or other psychological states, and how understanding these can help designers better communicate with their audience.

💡Serif Fonts

Serif fonts are characterized by small lines or strokes attached to the ends of letterforms. They are associated with stability, tradition, intellect, and formality. The video mentions Times New Roman as an example and discusses how organizations like universities and financial institutions use serif fonts to convey a sense of history and reliability.

💡Slab Serif Fonts

Slab serif fonts are a type of serif font with thick, block-like serifs, often associated with endurance, strength, and power. The video describes how these fonts can have a 'brash and powerful vibe,' making them suitable for car companies or outdoor-related projects.

💡Sans Serif Fonts

Sans serif fonts lack the small lines or serifs at the end of the strokes. They are linked with progressiveness, informality, openness, and friendliness. The video provides examples of brands like Facebook and Apple that use sans-serif fonts to convey a clean and modern image.

💡Modern Sans-Serif Fonts

Modern sans-serif fonts are a classification that often includes geometric inspiration, which can be strictly geometric or loosely associated. These fonts are linked with luxury, elegance, and high-end products, as discussed in the video, and can change their communication style when rounded off, becoming more informal.

💡Script Fonts

Script fonts are inspired by handwriting and can vary greatly in personality. They can be romantic, formal, luxurious, or informal and friendly. The video illustrates how script fonts can be used for high-end restaurants or children's clothing brands, depending on their style.

💡Display Fonts

Display fonts are a broad category often used for headings or points of emphasis rather than body copy. They have distinctive visual characteristics that make them stand out. The video mentions how display fonts can blend heavy imagery into letter forms or have a graphic quality, making them suitable for creating a strong visual impact.

💡Visual Communication

Visual communication is the conveyance of ideas and information through visual means, such as images, symbols, or typography. The video emphasizes the importance of visual communication in typography, explaining how the design of fonts can communicate messages beyond their literal spelling.

💡Anthropomorphize

Anthropomorphizing is the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to non-human entities. The video script mentions this concept to illustrate how humans can be more engaged with visual content, applying human-like qualities to the fonts they see.

💡Envato Elements

Envato Elements is a subscription service that offers access to a vast library of fonts, design templates, stock photos, and more. The video script promotes Envato Elements as a valuable resource for designers, with a variety of fonts that can be utilized to enhance visual communication.

Highlights

Fonts can communicate beyond just words, utilizing their visual qualities to connect with the audience.

Daisy Ein introduces herself as an illustrator, designer, and developer from Envato Tuts+.

The video discusses the psychology of fonts and their ability to evoke motion.

Envato Elements offers thousands of fonts and design resources for a low price.

Fonts featured in the video and a written tutorial by Grace are available for download.

The psychology of fonts involves how we interpret visual imagery and its impact on meaning.

Designers should understand their target audience to effectively communicate through font choices.

Humans tend to be more engaged with visual content than textual content.

Font appearance significantly impacts the perception of trustworthiness in logos.

Serif fonts are associated with stability, tradition, intellect, and formality.

Slab serif fonts, with their chunky serifs, convey endurance, strength, and power.

Sans-serif fonts are linked to progressiveness, informality, openness, and friendliness.

Modern sans-serif fonts can evoke luxury and elegance, especially in high-end products.

Rounded sans-serif fonts can appear more informal and suitable for younger audiences.

Script fonts can range from romantic and luxurious to informal and friendly.

Display fonts are diverse and often have visual characteristics making them suitable for emphasis.

Fonts communicate through line, shape, color, and proximity, influencing viewer perception.

Designers can use the communicative nature of fonts to better connect with their audience.

Transcripts

fonts have the ability to communicate in

more ways than just words in fact the

best design work out there utilizes the

visual qualities of fonts to help convey

and connect with their audience

hi I'm Daisy Ein from envato tots plus

and I'm an illustrator designer and

developer

in this video we'll discuss the

psychology of fonts or fonts that evoke

motion

we'll take a look at some examples and

discuss how they might visually

communicate

before we dig in if you love fonts make

sure to check out envato elements there

are thousands of fonts in the envato

elements library and they're all

included for one low price you also get

design templates stock photos brushes

and lots more it's all included and it's

just an amazing resource to have in your

toolkit you can download the fonts

featured in this video down in the link

in the video description so make sure to

check that out

I'd also recommend checking out the

written version of this tutorial by

fellow tuts plus author Grace she has

awesome insights on the subject too so

please check it out

so what do we mean when we say the

psychology of fonts while imagery is not

just plain old imagery we interpret it

let's check out a really basic example

here we have a red heart shape

what does this visually communicate to

you

if we change this around to a blue heart

is the meaning any different for you

your answer likely depends on things

like your background your experiences

and your perspective

that's why it's so valuable for

designers to know their target audience

then if you can play into those

preconceived ideas you can better

communicate with that audience

or for example humans tend to

anthropomorphize things that we see like

applying human characteristics to

non-human things

in many ways humans can be more engaged

with visual content than textual content

so looking at fonts how the font looks

matters a lot let's check out an example

let's say these two examples are both

logo type for a bank which one looks

trustworthy to you

likely you'd pick the one on the left

because the one on the right looks too

informal this matters because we'd want

the business handling our finances to be

trustworthy and responsible not playful

or whimsical

while there are a lot of factors here we

could experiment with like color and

proximity the font itself does play a

substantial role in how this example

communicates

so let's explore this idea with six

different types of fonts

serif fonts

serif fonts have these little brackets

on their ends those are called serifs

and serif fonts tend to be associated

with keywords like stability tradition

intellect and formality

for a long time the quote default font

in a lot of software was Times New Roman

a serif font historically serifs had a

large presence in print as well

organizations like universities

financial institutions law firms all

often take advantage of the look and

feel of serif fonts these organizations

want to convey that kind of idea that

they have history that they have

stability luxury Brands often draw on

serif fonts too because they can look

really classy and high-end as well

slab serif fonts

slab serif fonts also have serifs but

notice that these serifs are chunky and

block-like it significantly impacts the

aesthetic doesn't it slab serifs tend to

be associated with keywords like

enduring strong and powerful

perhaps this is in part due to the

heaviness that this type of font often

has you can of course have lighter slab

serifs but the traditional aesthetic

that comes to mind is this sort of

chunky look

so unlike traditional serifs slabs don't

have that same somewhat delicate look

organizations like car companies often

work with slab serifs because again they

kind of have that Brash and Powerful

Vibe it could also work really well for

outdoorsy projects or something that has

to do with camping

Sans serif fonts

Sans serif fonts don't have serifs at

all and there is many different

classifications of sans-serif font too

we'll just take a general look at this

type of font they tend to be associated

with keywords like Progressive informal

open and even friendly personally I

think some Sans serif fonts even have a

degree of neutrality to them which can

make them a really versatile Choice when

you're working on a design

if you look at branding like Facebook

apple or Spotify you'll see sans-serif

fonts they're a clean choice and they

often have an association with things

like Tech or other industries that

thrive on new features and innovation

modern sans-serif fonts like I mentioned

there's many different classifications

of sans serif fonts let's take a look at

some of the more modernist Styles fonts

with some geometric inspiration whether

it be directly or strictly geometric or

a little more loosely associated you

might see fonts like this associated

with things like luxury and elegance for

example fragrances fashion and high-end

products might lean towards this type of

font

interestingly if we take these types of

fonts and round them off it really

changes how they communicate notice how

a rounded sans-serif suddenly becomes a

lot more informal maybe even more

appropriate for a younger audience

script fonts

scripts are another broad category with

a lot of Personality think about

handwriting it can really vary script

fonts can be quite romantic formal and

luxurious like this example you might

associate this with a type of high-end

restaurant or a luxury brand then this

font on the other hand has a much more

informal friendly look and feel imagine

this on a birthday card or used in a

children's clothing brand

script fonts can be quite eclectic so

when you're looking at this type of font

it's really important to think about how

The Strokes visually communicate long

flowing Strokes that visually draw

inspiration from calligraphy are going

to feel classy and elegant

in contrast chunky informal writing is

going to have a very different vibe

display fonts so if you thought scripts

were quite diverse check out display

fonts this is a very broad category but

in most cases display fonts tend to have

some kind of visual characteristic that

makes it visually most appropriate for

display type not something like body

copy that you'd see in a paragraph they

might blend heavy imagery into the

letter forms or do something visually

graphic that makes these fonts a great

choice for points of emphasis

they're not immune from visual

Communication in fact that's kind of the

point this font for example has really

stylized serifs giving it an old-time

western movie feel then this font is a

Sans serif with a bit of script mixed in

to create a fun informal feel

so looking at all these fonts one of the

most important things to remember is

fonts communicate beyond what they spell

out the line shape color proximity all

these visual attributes communicate to

your viewer when you're designing with

type and while it's really important to

consider all of those aspects the font

itself and its design is a huge

consideration you can use these ideas

that fonts are inherently communicative

to arm yourself to better communicate

with your audience

so if you enjoyed this discussion on

fonts how they communicate and some of

the ideas Behind These Concepts please

consider giving this video a like and

subscribing to our Channel you can also

click on the notification Bell so you

never miss an update I'm Daisy Ein

thanks so much for watching and happy

designing

[Music]