This week we are taking another look at typography, this time more in depth, specifically wordmarks.
Every part of a character has a name and purpose.
A typeface can be broken down into the following components: Cap Height, Baseline, Counter, Ascender, Descender, Terminal, Set Width and X Height. Customising these components can allow us to create a unique wordmark utilising a typefaces character.
We were tasked to identify these components in one of our chosen typefaces for our bank brand. Here is the anatomy of my potential typeface and name pairing.
We looked at some examples of well known, compelling wordmarks, here are a few of my favourites.
Braun - Braun coming in strong with the altered cap height creating this elevated silhouette that adds a punch of character to their strong typeface. It plays off the typefaces curves and compliments so well with the following U and N characters. It creates a strong grounded wordmark which to me communicates, stability, reliability and adapability.
NASA - Nasa brings an innovative flair to the table with their removal of the crossbars, it signals they are removing the excess and leaving it behind in favour of looking forward and developing a new future. It is on brand and comes across as sleek, intentional and researched.
Pirelli - Pirelli brings us back to 1960’s Monaco with its extended bowl, it chooses aesthetics over readability and for good reason, the silhouette of pirellis wordmark is iconic, even when seen at 200mph due to this silhouette and its intentional choice of placing emphasis on how it looks as one piece. It is fearless and disstinct in it’s approach, much like its application.
NT - NTs use of combined serifs remind us of what refined design is and can be, it is a creative wordmark that accomplishes all that a wordmark wishes to complete. NT’s wordmark to me is refined, safe and vocal.
Kerning is the spacing between characters within a word. Kerning carries a large influence on how a word or wordmark may be interpreted. Here are some strong examples of kerning within wordmarks.
Panasonic - Panasonic use a tighter kerning within their wordmark, suggesting a stable product, in relation to their electronics this is very on brand. This tight kerning offers customers a sense of security within the brand and their purchase, it is a signal of a well designed product, it is modern and understanding.
Volvo - Here we can see Volvos wordmark in all of its glory. Volvo implement a large use of kerning here and it suggests that Volvo go big with it. The wide kerning conveys a sense of timelessness here, it is as though this is Volvo’s space and always has been. It is a strong wordmark that knows what it is and where it belongs.
FedEx - FedEx like Panasonic use a tight kerning within their wordmark, but a step further, every character touches one another. Not only does this accomplish something similar to Panasonic in conveying a sense of security and reliability but within the E and x it creates a an arrow. This is a great example of how a wordmark can be more than simply a word, I would love to incorporate something similar with my brands wordmark.
