The history of fonts in branding: corporate typefaces through the ages

As part of Typography Week at Creative Bloq, we've been looking at examples of the impact of typography in branding, including the use of fonts in famous logos. But where did the relationship between branding and typography begin, and how has the history of fonts in branding evolved?

Today, typography in branding performs several functions, ensuring consistency while also giving personality and recognition to a corporate identity. The understanding of this power has evolved over time, accompanied by changes in technology and in marketing and advertising, but it's not entirely two, and the two disciplines have developed together. Here we look back at how the history of fonts in branding developed.

The history of fonts in branding: how it all began

Pinpointing the exact start of this relationship is difficult. Typography and branding have evolved in tandem, and it can be tricky to define even when branding became a thing. Even the medieval Carolingian minuscule script could be considered as an early attempt to create a unified representation of a brand through lettering.

Going back to the very beginning, writing has been connected to business ever since the use of proto-cuneiform for correspondence counting in Ancient Sumeria. Tradespeople of various kinds have long used symbols to identify themselves or their guild, but the predecessors of today's brand logos, from silver hallmarks to heraldic symbols, were created for a time when most people were illiterate. The development of typography in branding would require advances in literacy as well as technology.

The birth of print

A major turning point in the history of typography that's taught to almost everyone in the west at school was the development of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century. This allowed for a growth in literacy because books could be produced on a much larger scale, and it also allowed the development of practical typefaces, which could be designed to have distinct looks.

By the time of the Industrial Revolution, print had given birth to mass communication through signage, posters, newspapers and adverts. This increase in the amount of visual communication, comparable to the increase in digital communication today, meant that messages needed to do more to stand out, just like what we see today with the competition for our attention in the digital realm. This led type makers to to start experimenting with different weights, shading and more experimental serif and sans serif typefaces.

The first corporate typefaces

The use of fonts for branding really took off in the late 19th century and early 20th century as advertising and marketing started to become more sophisticated. By the late 19th century, letting artists were creating recognisable styles for a more standardised look across communications: Alfons Mucha's Art Nouveau posters in advertising, for example, while Eric Gill hand-painted standardised signs and lettering for the British newsagents WH Smith between 1903 and 1907.

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Type setters were able to standardise further, creating bespoke corporate typefaces, or brand fonts, for clients. Notable examples include Peter Behrens' work. As architect and artistic director at AEG from 1907 to 1914, he designed everything from a factory to domestic appliances and the company's corporate identity. His gothic-inspired Behrens for the Rudhard’sche Gießerei foundry would serve as the official German typeface for world expositions in 1904 and 1910.

The US metal type designer Frederic Goudy cut custom fonts for several companies, including for the Pabst Brewing Company in 1906 (beer seems to have played a notable role in the history of branding!), Nabisco in 1921 and a collection of typefaces for Saks in 1934. He also made bespoke headline faces for magazines such as the Ladies' Home Companion and Architectural Record. 

Speaking of media, the printed press played an instrumental role in the development of custom brand typefaces. In 1931, the British newspaper The Times commissioned Stanley Morison, an artistic adviser to Monotype, to create a typeface that needs no introduction. Times New Roman still comes installed in most word processing software today.

1957: Helvetica is born

We can't truly consider the history of fonts in branding without reserving a space for Helvetica. Originally named Neue Haas Grotesk, the neo-grotesque sans-serif developed by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann remains one of the most popular typefaces today, and it was one of the first to be specifically named and imposed as an official brand typeface in corporate design manuals.

Licensing to Xerox, Adobe and Apple would go on to cement its wide adoption, and Helvetica continues to influence font design, from Google’s Roboto to Apple’s San Francisco.

The golden age of brand typefaces

The period from the 1960s to 1980s is often characterised as a golden age of advertising, and the same could be said for brand typography. A growing awareness and sophistication in  the implementation of design systems saw large organisations in both private and public sectors impose style guides, while people like Adrian Frutiger and Otl Aicher refined the concept of corporate design.

Adrian Frutiger's work for the new Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris from 1970, including the typeface Roissy (later developed into Frutiger) would define way-finding signage with its laser-sharp focus on legibility. British Rail also adopted a custom font, with Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert's Rail Alphabet first being used for signage at Liverpool Street.

Other notable examples include Kurt Weidemann's Corporate ASE for Daimler-Benz and Erik Spiekermann's "antithesis of Helvetica" FF Meta for the West German Post office Deutsche Bundespost in 1984.

The transition to digital

Creating a bespoke typeface in pre-digital days was expensive and laborious, but technology has transformed that, leading to an explosion in typography design, while digital media, including social media, has created a whole new market for typefaces, with new opportunities for typeface designers.

This in turn required new font licensing and business models for selling type to brands for use in these new digital spaces, leading to a transformation of the industry. Brands going digital created a new market for typefaces, and for type designers. Meanwhile, the tools for creating digital type became more powerful, making the process faster. 

Major tech brands adopted their own brand typefaces not just for traditional marketing use but also for user interfaces, with UX and UI design becoming part of branding. Google developed Product Sans in house, and Apple created its San Francisco sans serif and New York serif.

Today, there is an unprecedented amount and variety of fonts for brands to choose from, and new advances have seen the development of AI models that can create lettering. However, this incredible abundance, has led to vast variations in quality. The tools for making type may have become easier to use, and more accessible, but original (and good) typefaces for brands require just as much skill and craftsmanship to create or implement.

This article was produced as part of Typography Week, held in association with Monotype.