This personal project called “Logofonts” is a simple and fun way to learn about some of the world’s best logos. In fact, there is no such thing as a good or bad font—it always depends on the story you want to tell and the voice you want to use for this purpose. And graphic designers exist to masterfully balance all the elements of the logo to achieve the best result.
Bored Panda reached out to Emanuele to find out about the idea and the process behind this project.
“The idea came spontaneously by observing the most frequent questions of graphic designers. I noticed that the most common question when looking at a logo is: ‘which font was used?’ So I decided to create a project that would answer this question in a simple and immediate way,” said the artist.
“Most famous logos use a custom typography (designed from scratch, or from a font to customize it). My goal is to find out which font is used at the start and then modify it to get the final result. For this, I do a search by consulting the brand manuals and then visually comparing the original font with the logo. I also often use tools like 'whatthefont.' I always try to be as precise as possible.”
The main goal of “Logofonts,” which has 45.1K followers on Instagram, is to show how a typographic choice can be extremely identifying when designing a logo.
“The font is very important because typographic forms are able to generate emotional sensations in the observer and can represent a highly distinctive element in a logo: think of the Coca-Cola logo or the Instagram logo.”
For everyone who might think that using only a font in your logo is cheating and doesn’t require much knowledge, the artist says that the subject is not as easy as it may seem.
There are some basic tips on how to choose the perfect font to represent the tone of your company. In one of his Instagram posts, the graphic designer explores the importance of colors and typography in logos that, even without the use of images, can convey messages and feelings.
“Do you want to express luxury? Then better a serif font or an elegant script. Do you want to express innovation? Then a sans serif and neutral typography may be the right choice.”
Abrate says that the biggest mistake a brand can make when selecting the right font for a logo is to rely exclusively on their own taste or following the customer’s taste: “I love Futura, but when I design, I put my personal tastes aside in favor of the concept I want to enhance.”
