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Colleen with Dream Kitchens of Howell, Michigan came to me looking to update her marketing materials by creating a logo and a cohesive look. She had previously been given a pseudo logo as part of an ad she purchased with a Michigan publication and we originally went with ways to update that logo, which was her company name inside an oval. I came up with 4 concepts on this theme. 
Her initial preference was for the top two logos, but after some additional thought, she decided she like the bottom right logo with the monogram, only she wanted to see it with both the initials D and K. She also wanted to decide if she wanted the monogram on top, or behind the company name.
In the end, we decided that just because the initial ad she had purchased created a logo within an oval, that she didn’t have to keep the logo and the final logo was the monogram watermarked behind the company name, without the enclosure.
Next post… how this logo was developed into cohesive marketing materials…
So in the last post, I told you not to use more than 3 different fonts in your piece. Today the focus is on what to do when choosing those fonts. When you are choosing these 2-3 fonts, make sure the fonts are indeed different enough that you can tell they were picked on purpose. For example, don’t pick two fonts like Times New Roman and Book Antigua, that are different fonts, but really not that different. Or Arial and Verdana. It creates the effect of something just being “off” because it’s not entirely clear they’re different fonts, and it looks like it might be a mistake. Pick two fonts that are obviously different. The easy way for a beginner to do this is to use a serif (font with the little curls at the bottom of the letters – Times New Roman is the one most people are most familiar with) with a non serif (Arial is the familiar example) font. Once you get into really working with your typography there is a lot more to the nuances of different fonts (maybe for future posts) but when starting out, go for basics.
I regulary give seminars on graphic design for small businesses here in Brighton, Michigan. If you are a small business putting together your own marketing materials, there are a few basic design principles you should try to follow. The first one has to do with the fonts you choose.
One of the biggest sins non-designers will make when putting work together is to use too many fonts. Try to limit your fonts to two, three at most. Use one font for your headings, one for your main text and if you need a third, use it for sidebars or other places where text needs to stand out.
Limiting the number of fonts you use instantly cleans up your piece and makes it easier to read.
