😜 Let's Talk About Fonts Baby!

Fonts hey... Those pesky little jerks can be tricky customers, but I promise this episode is going to make things super simple. 

Fonts aren’t just decoration, they set the mood, tell a story, and play a huge role in how people see your brand.

In this episode, I’m walking you through exactly how to:

• Figure out what fonts actually feel like you (in a practical way, not a lame one).
• Pick two fonts (yep, just two!) that balance personality and clarity.
• Avoid the common mistakes that are probably making your brand look DIY.
• Find fonts you’ll love, from free tools to premium gems.
• And my favorite little hack for tracking down a font you’ve spotted online.

By the end, you’ll know how to clean up your fonts, lock them into your brand kit, and finally stop second-guessing whether you’ve “done it right.” And then you're going to stick with them for at least 12 months.... Promise me!!!

x Morgan

Connect with me:

• Follow The Fearless Designer on Instagram
  @the.fearless.designer
  
  
• Head to The Fearless Designer Website for more info
  www.thefearlessdesigner.com.au

Transcript

Hello, friends. Welcome back to the Fearless Designer podcast. I am literally bouncing out of my seat today. I'm talking about one of my most favorite topics of all time, and that is fonts. I know I can hear you. You're either cheering and saying, yay, Morgan, I love my brand fonts and I'm so excited to hear this, or you're groaning and going, ugh, this is another decision I have to make. I don't know what looks good fonts. I don't want to do it.

Put it on the to do list. But I promise you that this episode is going to make things really simple for you. Think of it as go to guide for choosing the right fonts for your business brand. Especially, and most importantly, if you're not a designer, I'm going to walk you through today what fonts actually do for your brand, how to know which ones feel like you and how to pair them. Because I feel like that's probably where most of the confusion starts to happen. So if you're building a brand for the first time or you're trying to clean things up, this is going to be a really great episode for you. So let's get into it. I can't wait.

Hello and welcome to the Fearless Designer podcast. I'm your host, Morgan MacDonald, aka the fearless designer, and I'm here to help you embrace your fears, level up your visual brand, and take your business to fearless new heights. For two decades, I've worked with business owners just like you, designing brands that are bold, consistent, and authentic. I've lived a profesh corporate life as a graphic designer, and I've also spent the last 13 years running my own brand and graphic design business. So whether you're running a six or seven figure business, craving a brand refresh, or just ready to add a little more wow to your visuals, I got you. Each week we'll dive into fearless brand strategies, design tips that you actually can use, live brand audits, and interviews with fellow business owners who have dared to do things differently. So if you're ready to stop playing small, take control of your brand, and lead with confidence, you're in the right place. Let's go.

All right, before we get started, I just want to pop a really quick disclaimer in here as well. I've been a designer for 22, 23 years and have used many fonts in my years, from university to client work to now. I just want to say that nine times out of 10, I'm reading those font names on a computer or on screen or in Print. And I haven't actually said them out loud, so if you hear some ridiculous font name or something that just sounds weird or different to you, say it. It could possibly be the fact that I am saying it wrong. So I just wanted put a little mark in here and just let you know that it could very well be me and not you. And if you hear any weirdness coming out of my mouth, chances are it's because I've never said that word before. And hopefully it gives you a little giggle.

All right, let's start with the basics. Fonts are one of those things that can feel like a surface level design decision, but they're actually incredibly strategic. Fonts communicate emotion and they set a tone before your audience even reads a word. A font can whisper really awfully in your ear. Things like, I'm modern and minimal, or I'm high end with a touch of editorial, or even I made this in word art in 2006. So, yeah, they really do matter. And the problem is, most small business owners, people that are time poor, just pick something that looks nice and they run with it, really, without thinking about what it's saying. So if your brand feels off or it's inconsistent, this is one of the first places I'd tell you to look what fonts feel like.

Let's break that down. I want to go deeper on this because I don't think I fully unpacked it here. Pick a font that feels like you. What the hell does that mean? It sounds great in theory, but let's make it a little bit more practical. Think about your brand as a personality. If your business was a person walking into the room, how would they move? What would they be wearing? What energy would they give off? Are they bold and direct? Are they calm? Are they creative? Are they slightly chaotic? Are they luxe and sophisticated? Or are they down to earth and friendly? Fonts have a personality, too. So here's a little cheat sheet. Serif fonts, Think of these like the classic blazer of the font world.

They're elegant, they're established. They often feel traditional or high end. Think of fonts like Times New Roman or Garamond or Playfair Display. Then we have sans serif fonts. These are clean, modern, minimal. They feel very today, great for tech, wellness. A lot of creatives and coaches use them. Think Helvetica, think Montserrat.

Think Ariel. Any of those. All right, I think I've done my first one. I meant to say Ariel, but I said Ariel, and it's not the Little Mermaid. It's Ariel. Oh my gosh. Then we move into this script and handwritten fonts. And these are often playful or personal or informal.

They are to be used sparingly for flair or great for a signature style or, you know, one person business. Something that adds just that little touch of authenticity. Think fonts like great vibes or oh, there's so many of them, you know which one ones I'm talking about. I want to go to the really bad ones that I don't ever want you to use and I'm not going to mention them. So we then move into display fonts. These are big, bold and artistic. They're great for one off moments, headings, things that really stand out, but they should never really be used for body copy. These fonts are here to make a statement.

So to figure out what feels like, you try this. Go to your Pinterest boards, Go to Pinterest and look at your saved brand inspo or type in brand fonts in the search bar and see what catches your eye. What is it? Is it fonts that are soft and curved? Are they bold? Are they geometric? Are they feminine and scripty? Don't overthink it. Just start noticing what you're drawn to. So once you've kind of figured out the vibe, I want you to just pick two fonts. Yes, just two. That's my golden rule here. It is two fonts and they are going to be one, a primary font, something to be used for headings and anything that needs to be standing out.

And two, a secondary font used for body copy, smaller text subheadings, anything that needs to be really legible. And I'll give you bonus points if you pick a secondary font that has multiple weights like a light and a regular medium bold italic. Make sure you pick something that gives you some variety. The goal is to create contrast, not chaos. If your heading font is bold and curvy, balance it with a clean and simple body font. If your main font is delicate and minimalist, maybe your second font needs to have a bit more structure to give the to give your layout some rhythm. And a real quick tip is don't make both fonts do the same job. Make one bring the personality and the other brings in the clarity.

And if you've been a little bit miffed about where to find the best fonts, let's talk tools. These are some of the various places that I use to pick my fonts, but obviously there are a heck of a lot more. This is just a really simple list. First of all, there's Google fonts. They're free, they're accessible, and they're easy to use across platforms. Second of all, there are Adobe fonts. It's often quite difficult to access those if you don't have an account, but it's a goldmine. There's loads of personality and high end options in Adobe fonts.

Then there's Canva Pro. That's not my first pick for originality, but if you're starting out there and using it to create a lot of your marketing material, it's a really great place to find some great fonts to keep it really simple for you. And I'm not sure whether you've ever delved into the world of creative market. I've, I've lost many hours there. This is where I go when I want to create something custom. You can find amazing script fonts, you can find amazing bold display fonts, premium fonts, things that not so many people are using. But I would encourage you to actually get into some, like click into the fonts and a lot of them have the test bar where you can actually type in your brand name or a word that you use often so you can actually see what it looks like written in that font. I think that's so important because a lot of the times when creating a logo, the display, you know, the little thumbnail that sits with the fonts looks amazing because they've picked great letter forms.

But when I actually need it to look good for a particular brand name, it's not, it's not looking the same because there's different letters are forming. They don't have the beautiful ligatures or they don't have the beautiful, you know, the swooshy S's and the F's and things like that. So just make sure you double check your fonts before you invest. A bonus tip. If you're not sure about what font someone else is using or something you found on Pinterest that you love or on Instagram, here's a little trick for you. Take a screenshot of it and upload it to something like Font Squirrel or what the font, they have a funky little system where you can upload that font and it will give you a list of the closest matches. And sometimes they actually give you the exact font. And that way you can go and download it, you can go and purchase it and make sure that if you're, you know, loving that font, you're finding exactly that font.

It's an absolute game changer. I'm also gonna pop down the links in the show notes so that you can go and test those out for yourself. So some of the most common font mistakes that I that are actually sabotaging your brand is the fact that too many fonts are being used at any one time. You're not being creative, you're actually being chaotic when you do that. Two fonts, maybe three, if you really know what you're doing, is the perfect number. We are really wanting to form that brand consistency. And if we're using multiple fonts at multiple different times, people are not able to connect that that font stands for your brand. Another issue is people are choosing really hard to read fonts for body text.

A script font is not for paragraph, I promise. Another issue is that the font weight is too fine and you can't read it, especially if it's on a dark background or something in like that really fluorescent, vibrant kind of zone. You can't actually read the text because it's too light. Another common mistake is that fonts that don't align with your brand tone. Say, for example, your brand is fun and vibrant and very like personal brandy, but you're using fonts that look like they should go on a legal document. Like, that's misaligning with your brand tone. And I'm trying not to punch the microphone. But one of the most common mistakes that I see is inconsistent fonts across platforms.

That will be the first thing that makes your brand look diy. And I'm finding that because people are using Canva and they can't actually find their brand font in Canva, they are then picking something that's similar, which then leads to inconsistent branding across platforms. The tip to get around this one for me is to if you've worked with a designer or if you're willing to invest in a font, please get a Canva Pro account and load it into Canva under your brand kit. That way it is the same font that's appearing on your website, on your socials, on your email signature. Everything is consistent. And if you're listening to this right now and thinking, oh, I've done all those, don't stress well, just use it as a clean the slate moment. You've nailed it. I'm high fiving you.

So I want you to do a little bit of designer homework for me. First of all, look at your Instagram and your website and your emails and your Canva graphics. Write down the fonts that you're using and ask, do these fonts feel like me? Are they consistent and are they Sending the right vibe. If the answer is no, start from scratch with your two chosen fonts and apply it across the whole board. And if the answer is yes, Amazing. Lock those babies in, save them into your Canva brand kit and keep rolling them out everywhere. Website, socials, emails Consistency is key here. And just to wrap up, fonts don't need to be complicated.

You don't need to be a designer, you don't need to have 500 different font options saved in Pinterest. You just need two well chosen fonts that feel really aligned with your energy and support the message you're putting into the world. And remember, much like color, fonts are subjective too. The font that you really like and love I might not like and your next door neighbour mightn't like it either or your mum might hate it and they prefer something different. I really want to encourage you to pick your two fonts and just work to consistency. Roll them out you the headings, body copy. Go for it. Don't let Pesky Canva try and throw another font into the mix because you picked on a template and that's what it suggested.

Keep using your fonts over and over and over again because ever so slightly people will recognize it and they will connect the dots to that font or that font combination is part of your branding. So if this episode has helped you, I would be so thankful if you could share it with a biz, bestie or anyone that needs to hear. If you are struggling with what fonts you're using, please send me a DM on Instagram. I'm always happy to help and steer you in the right direction. And that's it for today's episode of the Fearless Designer podcast. I hope you're feeling really inspired, fired up and ready to go make some bold moves with your brand. If you love today's episode, don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that you never miss a dose of fearless branding goodness. And if you're feeling extra generous, drop us a review.

It just helps more fearless legends like you find this podcast. If you've got any ideas or questions for future EPS, please slide into my DMs or send me an email. I would love to hear from you. And until next time, keep being bold, keep being fearless and remember your brand is your superpower. So go out there and dare to be different. Bye.