The Role of Typography in Marketing with Terrance Weinzierl

April 4th, 2017

by Dan Gibson

At our most recent luncheon event we were lucky to have Terrance Weinzierl join us to explain the vital role typography plays in marketing. Below are just a few of the top take aways from his insightful talk:

  • Type is everywhere. Every sign, billboard, shirt label, smartphone app, website, restaurant menu. Any one room/location can easily have hundreds of types.
  • Every individual letter was created by someone. There isn’t some magical program that generates the rest of the alphabet, numbers, and symbols after you create the first one or two. Fonts (especially for Terrance) are created using a combination of pen and paper, and electronic tools. Typically starts on paper or bar napkins. Then moves to the computer to elaborate on.
  • Type is an expression of a brand. It gives you an immediate picture of the brand and it’s attributes – is it bold, modern, cheap, classy, etc.
  • We desire new types, just like we crave new music, books, or movies.
  • Type design = making fonts. Typography = using fonts.
  • When choosing or creating a font, it’s important to think about what purpose it serves and how it will be used (billboard, electronic, how large, colors, lighting, indoor/outdoor, etc)

Terrance also suggested some reading resources for those inspired to learn more:
“Shaping Text” by Jan Middendorp
“Thinking with Type” by Ellen Lupton
“The Typographic Desk Reference” by Theodore Rosendorf
“Reading Letters, Designing for Legibility” by Sofie Beier

Interested in exploring more amazing fonts? You can find Terrance’s work online at terrancetype.com or at monotype.com

Follow him @typeterrance

Visit the AMA West Michigan Facebook page or Twitter and let us know what you thought!