Customized typefaces

In today's global marketplace, large companies require a consistent approach to the marketing and branding of their products. This is especially true for large technology companies (computer hardware and software manufacturers) that often have product lines and corporate offices that span multiple continents. The marketing and technical support teams at such large technology companies have a vested interest in ensuring the marketing collateral/technical specifications that the Bangalore office presents to Indian customers is identical to the marketing collateral/technical specifications that the San Jose office presents to American customers. Obviously the technical aspects should be identical, but the look and feel of the information (e.g. typeface, layout and color schemes) should also be identical. Consistent presentation of information to customers is a key aspect of global product branding. This consistency presents a uniform, united face to customers and reassures customers that even though multiple geographic locations may contribute to the development of a product, all locations are working together with a singular vision.

A critical, but often overlooked aspect of brand consistency is typeface. Brand consultants often note that a typeface for customer collateral (advertising, Web page, marketing, technical specifications, user documentation) should nicely complement the product and be rolled out in a consistent manner. For example, Intel migrated all of its online and hardcopy marketing information to the sleek, Web-friendly Verdana typeface in 2006.

In an effort to standout among the millions of products in today's marketplace, an interesting typographic trend is accompanying the branding recommendations described in the previous paragraph: customized typeface design.

Many companies with generous marketing budgets are not satisfied with standard market typefaces, such as Times New Roman, Helvetica or Arial. Instead, they are turning to small-scale designers for custom typefaces. Custom typefaces provide a distinct visual element for a company and its products. Companies work with the design house to develop a unique typeface family. Afterwards, the company rolls out the typeface for all publications, internal reports, office documents, signages and advertisements to complement their corporate identity.

A Google search for 'customized fonts' turns up two popular typeface design companies:

• The Ascender Corporation, which has designed custom fonts for Microsoft, Agilent and LexMark
  
• Porchez Typofonderie, which is a French design studio that has developed custom fonts for a variety of companies.

Some examples of customized fonts developed by Ascender and Porchez Typofonderie appear below:

The Lexmark family was developed by Ascender and ties together the wide range of Lexmark products from the web to product packaging:

Mencken Head was exclusively developed by Porchez Typofonderie for the Baltimore Sun Newspaper. The objective was to couple a unique flavor with clarity for headlines and article text: