Type Branding
…So what exactly are we removing here?
Type branding* refers to one approach to branding. And branding centers on brand identity. The core of the previous sentence is, needless to say, the “brand.” Then one might attempt the following question: “What happens when the brand is removed from type branding?” In Korean dictionaries, what remains after removing the core is called a shell. So what is the shell in type branding? This article is about type branding with the brand removed—the shell. In other words, a red bean bun without red beans. A Hongcheol Team without Hongcheol.
*Depending on the subject, it is also called typo branding or font branding, but Sandoll uses the term type branding.
Readability over brand
In commonly perceived type branding cases, brand identity is often actively reflected in the form of the font. Fonts completed in this way make it easy to recognize which brand they belong to, even without further explanation. A representative example is Hyundai Card 「“You and」. Just as consumers can easily identify a brand through its symbol or color, type branding plays a similar role.
In contrast, there are also cases that focus solely on usability as a font. Among domestic examples, Ridibooks’ 「Ridi Batang」 developed as an e-book font, falls into this category. Ridibooks developed 「Ridi Batang」 to improve uncomfortable reading experiences in e-books and distributed it for free so that anyone could use it.
「Ridi Batang」 is not a font that embodies Ridibooks’ brand characteristics, but one that focuses exclusively on readability in e-books. It increases inner spaces and removes unnecessary ornamentation so that text reads clearly at a glance, improving readability on mobile devices. It was also designed to align the upper visual center line so that long passages are easier to read and the flow of the eye feels comfortable.
RIDI. It guides a comfortable flow of the eye through variable widths and spacing between letters.
RIDI. Upright top strokes and attached side stems allow characters to be clearly distinguished even at small sizes.
RIDI. Readability is improved by removing ornamentation. (Link)
Usability over brand
One representative example of type branding that is never left out is Naver’s 『Nanum』 series. Since 2008, as part of the “Hangul Hangul Beautifully” campaign, Naver has produced and distributed various fonts for free. In terms of the total number of fonts produced, the figure reaches around 150. While there are no related statistical data, this is likely the highest number of free fonts distributed by a brand. Rather than emphasizing brand individuality through fonts, Naver developed its fonts with a focus on diverse usability in online environments.
“Even people who did not know that Naver makes fonts might find that there is at least one 『Nanum』 font installed on the computer they use every day. Familiar fonts such as 「Nanum Gothic」, 「Nanum Myeongjo」, and 「Nanum Square」—fonts that were used for assignments, for work, and even for résumés.”
– What Is Different About the Fonts Naver Makes?, Deogeopilchi, 2022 (Link)
“For a long time, Naver has focused on improving the font environment with the hope that the large amount of information written in Hangul in the online world could be used more beautifully. Unlike other brand fonts, which are developed to reveal strong individuality by focusing on the brand itself, Naver considered itself a brand that grows together with users, and therefore created fonts that are more user-focused. Whether ‘people using the service can use it comfortably as if it were their own,’ and whether ‘diverse, high-quality fonts that users need are being provided’ have always been Naver’s top priority.”
– What Is Different About the Fonts Naver Makes?, Deogeopilchi, 2022 (Link)
Naver. The Naver Nanum font family, ongoing since 2008 (Link)
Universality over brand
There is a case in which the Japanese home electronics company Panasonic (パナソニック) and Iwata (イワタ) developed the 「UD Font」. Here, ‘UD’ stands for Universal Design (UD), which refers to a universal design that is not constrained by gender, age, disability, or language. As vision declines with age, or when characters are small or complex, reading can become difficult. This is especially true in Japan, where kanji with a large number of strokes are commonly used. Against this background, the 「UD Font」 pursues ease of reading over visual beauty. It simplifies the strokes of Mincho fonts and eliminates ornamentation from Gothic fonts, significantly enlarging the components of kanji. It is designed so that characters that are easy to misread—such as the alphabet letter ‘S,’ the numbers ‘3’ and ‘8,’ and the alphabet letters ‘O,’ ‘C,’ and ‘G’—can be easily distinguished.
Panasonic is not limited to this single case, but is also a company that realizes ‘UD’ across a wide range of areas. Cleaning air conditioner filters installed at high locations is a task that places a heavy burden on older adults or pregnant women, so Panasonic developed air conditioners that clean themselves. It has also released portable voice output devices for people with speech impairments. In addition, it is said that Panasonic has introduced concrete ‘UD’ guidelines not only for in-house designers and developers, but also in marketing and shipping departments.
Panasonic does not deliberately emphasize brand identity. What it focuses on is solely providing home appliances that everyone can use comfortably. For any company, making good products may seem like a given. However, Panasonic has a clear objective regarding whom those good products are for. In branding, building a concrete persona for the target audience is extremely important, because doing so naturally clarifies the brand’s positioning.
Iwata. When font strokes are thick or thin, they can be difficult to read depending on the situation.
Iwata. Characters that are symmetrical or have similar outer shapes can be difficult to read depending on the situation.
Iwata. Designed to make characters easy to distinguish by considering various factors. (Link)
So, what is type branding?
Why does type branding still function as type branding even when the brand or the type is removed? This is because the essence of type branding does not lie in the brand or the type. The essence lies in the brand’s story. Branding begins with differentiation from other brands, but what ultimately matters is how it is different. Therefore, branding is grounded not in products, but in stories. Type branding is no different.
What happens if, in type branding, the usability of the font is ignored in order to emphasize only the brand? Or what happens if usability as a font is emphasized in a way that has nothing to do with the values the brand pursues? Such a project would not be worth examining, not only from a type branding perspective but also from a branding perspective. This is because the essence lies in the brand’s story—and in what story one wants to convey through type branding.
The previous cases make this clearer. What Ridi conveyed through 「Ridi Batang」 was the story of “an experience that resolves the inconvenience of e-books.” What Naver conveyed through the 『Nanum』 series was the story of “improving the font environment in digital contexts.” What Panasonic conveyed through the 「UD Font」 was the story of “an experience in which everyone can use home appliances comfortably.”
Type branding is not a solution that creates strategies a brand did not originally have. No matter how good a font is developed, if its justification in relation to the brand is weak, it cannot be called good type branding. In branding, what matters most is the story the brand seeks to convey—in other words, its essential brand identity. Type branding functions as a means of shaping this through type, and of creating a unique voice that expresses the brand’s story beyond simple letters.
Type Branding
…So what exactly are we removing here?
Type branding* refers to one approach to branding. And branding centers on brand identity. The core of the previous sentence is, needless to say, the “brand.” Then one might attempt the following question: “What happens when the brand is removed from type branding?” In Korean dictionaries, what remains after removing the core is called a shell. So what is the shell in type branding? This article is about type branding with the brand removed—the shell. In other words, a red bean bun without red beans. A Hongcheol Team without Hongcheol.
*Depending on the subject, it is also called typo branding or font branding, but Sandoll uses the term type branding.
Readability over brand
In commonly perceived type branding cases, brand identity is often actively reflected in the form of the font. Fonts completed in this way make it easy to recognize which brand they belong to, even without further explanation. A representative example is Hyundai Card 「“You and」. Just as consumers can easily identify a brand through its symbol or color, type branding plays a similar role.
In contrast, there are also cases that focus solely on usability as a font. Among domestic examples, Ridibooks’ 「Ridi Batang」 developed as an e-book font, falls into this category. Ridibooks developed 「Ridi Batang」 to improve uncomfortable reading experiences in e-books and distributed it for free so that anyone could use it.
「Ridi Batang」 is not a font that embodies Ridibooks’ brand characteristics, but one that focuses exclusively on readability in e-books. It increases inner spaces and removes unnecessary ornamentation so that text reads clearly at a glance, improving readability on mobile devices. It was also designed to align the upper visual center line so that long passages are easier to read and the flow of the eye feels comfortable.
RIDI. It guides a comfortable flow of the eye through variable widths and spacing between letters.
Usability over brand
One representative example of type branding that is never left out is Naver’s 『Nanum』 series. Since 2008, as part of the “Hangul Hangul Beautifully” campaign, Naver has produced and distributed various fonts for free. In terms of the total number of fonts produced, the figure reaches around 150. While there are no related statistical data, this is likely the highest number of free fonts distributed by a brand. Rather than emphasizing brand individuality through fonts, Naver developed its fonts with a focus on diverse usability in online environments.
Naver. The Naver Nanum font family, ongoing since 2008 (Link)
Universality over brand
There is a case in which the Japanese home electronics company Panasonic (パナソニック) and Iwata (イワタ) developed the 「UD Font」. Here, ‘UD’ stands for Universal Design (UD), which refers to a universal design that is not constrained by gender, age, disability, or language. As vision declines with age, or when characters are small or complex, reading can become difficult. This is especially true in Japan, where kanji with a large number of strokes are commonly used. Against this background, the 「UD Font」 pursues ease of reading over visual beauty. It simplifies the strokes of Mincho fonts and eliminates ornamentation from Gothic fonts, significantly enlarging the components of kanji. It is designed so that characters that are easy to misread—such as the alphabet letter ‘S,’ the numbers ‘3’ and ‘8,’ and the alphabet letters ‘O,’ ‘C,’ and ‘G’—can be easily distinguished.
Panasonic is not limited to this single case, but is also a company that realizes ‘UD’ across a wide range of areas. Cleaning air conditioner filters installed at high locations is a task that places a heavy burden on older adults or pregnant women, so Panasonic developed air conditioners that clean themselves. It has also released portable voice output devices for people with speech impairments. In addition, it is said that Panasonic has introduced concrete ‘UD’ guidelines not only for in-house designers and developers, but also in marketing and shipping departments.
Panasonic does not deliberately emphasize brand identity. What it focuses on is solely providing home appliances that everyone can use comfortably. For any company, making good products may seem like a given. However, Panasonic has a clear objective regarding whom those good products are for. In branding, building a concrete persona for the target audience is extremely important, because doing so naturally clarifies the brand’s positioning.
Iwata. When font strokes are thick or thin, they can be difficult to read depending on the situation.
So, what is type branding?
Why does type branding still function as type branding even when the brand or the type is removed? This is because the essence of type branding does not lie in the brand or the type. The essence lies in the brand’s story. Branding begins with differentiation from other brands, but what ultimately matters is how it is different. Therefore, branding is grounded not in products, but in stories. Type branding is no different.
What happens if, in type branding, the usability of the font is ignored in order to emphasize only the brand? Or what happens if usability as a font is emphasized in a way that has nothing to do with the values the brand pursues? Such a project would not be worth examining, not only from a type branding perspective but also from a branding perspective. This is because the essence lies in the brand’s story—and in what story one wants to convey through type branding.
The previous cases make this clearer. What Ridi conveyed through 「Ridi Batang」 was the story of “an experience that resolves the inconvenience of e-books.” What Naver conveyed through the 『Nanum』 series was the story of “improving the font environment in digital contexts.” What Panasonic conveyed through the 「UD Font」 was the story of “an experience in which everyone can use home appliances comfortably.”
Type branding is not a solution that creates strategies a brand did not originally have. No matter how good a font is developed, if its justification in relation to the brand is weak, it cannot be called good type branding. In branding, what matters most is the story the brand seeks to convey—in other words, its essential brand identity. Type branding functions as a means of shaping this through type, and of creating a unique voice that expresses the brand’s story beyond simple letters.