Typography is pervasive in our culture. You can hardly step foot outside of your home without being greeted, perhaps bombarded— accosted, even— by media that doesn’t pay a significant amount of attention to the font it deploys. Whether it be a street sign, billboard, or a local business, font choices are everywhere.
There are certain factors involved with these choices.
Legibility
Legibility will be your biggest priority when quickly comprehending the material is key. I.e. in the instance of a street sign or instructional pamphlet.
Personality
The character of each typeface will go a long way in affecting the audience’s perception of the material. How a customer perceives a certain call to action can be adjusted by the size, shape, and even color of the typeface.
Brand
Typefaces are a significant concern when developing your business’s identity. Choosing a font that can stick in the mind of your audience while conjuring sensations complimentary to your brand.
But there can be more to it than that. In a previous guide, I outlined some typographic properties. We were able to get a grasp of the different types of typefaces, how to pair fonts, how to choose a font for your brand, and what fonts to avoid.
Now that we have a healthy understanding of the craft, it’s time to dig a bit further. Today, we will discuss the basics of typographic design, trends in contemporary design (and how to properly integrate them), and ways to bolster and deepen your font repertoire. Additionally, we will spotlight companies that have undergone rebrands to see how they’ve updated their typefaces for a contemporary market.
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9 Rules of Typography For Graphic Designers
As with every craft, it’s important for aspiring designers to have a firm grasp of the guidelines. In order for your skills to fully develop, there are a few things you need to familiarize yourself with.
Here are 9 rules of typography that all graphic designers should know:
1) Understand kerning.
Kerning is the act of fine-tuning the space between characters to produce a streamlined, unified pairing. All fonts will come preset with a certain amount of space between characters. In the case of monospaced typefaces, like Courier New, this space will be even throughout all characters.
But for most typefaces, there’s some degree of contrast between the weight of each character and the space between them. Making micro-adjustments between these characters is necessary for designing.
2) Limit your fonts.
It’s an honest mistake for newbies to make. You think using a vast assortment of fonts and styles will help you in your design journey. And while you are entirely wrong, it’s fair to think. But the truth is that most great work is the product of some degree of self-restriction. Working within preset perimeters can help you refine a project with more efficiency, satisfying you (and your clients) quicker.
It’s easy to get caught up with too many options at your disposal, and you find that you lose creative control. Do yourself a favor and limit yourself to a healthy handful of typefaces to choose from.
3) Utilize visual hierarchy.
A decent grasp of visual hierarchy is going to be key when designing anything from websites to print advertisements. Typographic hierarchy is a system that uses typography — size, font, and layout — to show users where to look for certain information, often drawing them to the most important text first. There are a number of tools we can use to create a neat and orderly visual hierarchy in our work.
4) Practice smart pairing.
When creating a visual hierarchy, you’ll likely find it greatly beneficial to utilize the right font pairings. And while you may be eager to choose your two favorite fonts, it’s important to understand how these fonts work together, and the natural order they create.
A good method for stretching the versatility of typefaces is utilizing superfamilies. A superfamily is a set of fonts that are crafted to work together in harmony. These fonts are related by their sharing of certain characteristics.
5) Avoid stretching fonts.
Foundries and type designers invest a ton of time into meticulously crafting the letterforms of their typefaces. It’s important to keep that in mind when stretching your text. Typically, when stretching typefaces, it’s in an attempt to make the text taller or wider. Some typefaces will include fonts in their family that accomplish this without distorting the actual letterforms.
In some cases, there will be variants of the typeface that offer these naturally higher or wider forms. Conduct research into typefaces that achieve these results organically and you can refine your repertoire even further.
6) Use negative space.
White space is not empty space. That can’t be stressed enough. Knowing when not to apply something is just as important as knowing when and how to. This can help you bring out important aspects of your design, aspects that might otherwise be buried in a more busy layout. Don’t be afraid to hold back in the right instance. This of course takes a skillful eye.
7) Avoid gimmicks.
Design fads come and go. What’s cool today may not hold up tomorrow. As a rule of thumb, you should avoid trends, lest you risk your project falling flat as soon as the next fad comes along.
8) Use the right tools.
Having the right tools at your disposal is key. Utilizing the right list of programs that can assist you in your design journey will help you grow as an artist, satisfy your clients and build your portfolio. You’re likely familiar with Adobe In-Design and for good reason. It’s the industry standard.
If you’re just starting out and don’t want to splurge on the cost of Adobe’s program, check out these free alternatives. They won’t get you all the way there, but they’re fantastic for beginners just looking to get their feet wet:
Scribus. Available for Windows, macOS, and various GNU/Linux distributions. It has an extensive layout program, though its range of functions isn’t quite as developed as In-Design.
Lucidpress. This print and publishing application can be accessed through your browser and is a good choice for those looking to create brochures, newsletters, or magazines in a free setting.
VivaDesigner. This application offers both desktop and web versions. The free version is easily accessible but operates in a limited capacity. But, there is a full-range version for purchase!
9) Be inspired.
Above all, be inspired. Keeping your ear to the wall will help you stay up to date on design trends and keep you open for the inspiration you need to create consistent, beautiful work.
5 Typographers to Follow in 2022 (Updated)
In any modern art form, there are creatives who fall into one of two categories. Some artists’ work exists within the established confines of their craft’s standards. The other category is the vanguard, whose work pushes against the expected towards bold new horizons. Typographers can be looked at the same way.
The vanguard’s work typically consists of reshaping conventions and breaking down their formulas in order to push the boundaries.
Of course, the true test of how effective a boundary-pushing artist’s work is coming down to how well their work is received by the general audience.
Experimenting with an art form
You can compare it to experimental pop music. To keep it simple, we can use one of the most notable instances of innovation in pop.
What made the Beatles such successful adventurers in the mid-to-late 1960s was their ability to exercise constraint. That is, it wasn’t simply their willingness to go far out—any number of artists had done that before—but how far out they went without losing their commercial appeal.
The height of invention isn’t measured by how far out one can go, but by how far out one can bring their fans without alienating them. That’s the art.
But it can be a tight line to walk, especially when you consider that the “line” isn’t fixed. A number of variables affect it at all times, and that uncertainty contributes to the unique set of limits placed on art.
Typographers are limited by concepts like legibility; people must be able to discern what characters they’re looking at. They’re trying to reshape the alphabet, but their audience must be able to recognize their letterforms without a second thought.
Trending towards humanity
But bubbling just under the surface, there are new trends growing, taking hold of typographers the world over. More and more, the tendencies of mid-century typography seem to loosen their grip on the current wave of designers. The strict reliance on geometry and legibility above all else is slowly crumbling.
In its wake, a far more expressive, humanist style seems to be emerging.
Here are 5 typographic designers offering a fresh approach to their work in 2022.
Paul Eslage (Hamburg, Germany)
German-based type artist Paul Eslage develops and designs brand identities for both print and digital media. Sombra, his own creation, is perhaps one of his most noteworthy recent works. Eslage has described this typeface as a “geometric yet organic grotesque” design.
The characters are quite soft, often featuring oblong, rounded elements to their form. But despite this, it’s also rather sharp.
Barret Reid-Maroney (Ontario, Canada)
Working out of Ontario, Canada, Barret Reid-Maroney is a brand identity craftsman whose affable work is often shrouded in his own distinctively-designed typefaces. Among his more commonly deployed typographic tropes are the use of high-contrast and highly intricate fonts that balance qualities of retro-futurism and classical elegance.
This is typified (no pun intended) by Kafka, a typeface that balances elements of geometric sans serifs with swirling, humanist, and banner-like quirks.
Moshik Nadav (Brooklyn, New York)
Born and raised in Isreal, Moshik Nadav works out of Brooklyn. His work tends to offer poise and flair through high contrast between thick and thin brush strokes. His pride and joy seems to be his serif work, which tends to have long, curving flourishes lurching off of the letterforms.
Segol is an excellent example of his work. It’s characters are wonderful for display copy, boasting a clean-yet-detailed charm.
Hey Porter! (Amman, Jordan)
Hey Porter! is an independent type foundry working out of Jordan and founded in 2017. Their website states a focus on designing experimental modern fonts, marks, logos, and identities.
A number of their typefaces are designed purely for the Arabic alphabet and are fantastic options for display text. Much of their work is strong, modern and condensed. Options for the Arabic language include Talama, Sindeed, and Watad.
But Palestine is one of their few typefaces that work with the English language. It offers a highly angular, diamond-like letterform that cleverly evokes its namesake.
Anton Jegorov (Riga, Latvia)
Anton Jegorov is a self-taught designer from Riga, Latvia. He offers his typeface, Boris, through Type Department. Its letterforms are intensely bold with thin, vertical counters. But the high contrast look stays legible, even at higher point sizes.
As an added bonus, Boris is available for free.
For more typographers to follow in 2022, check out our previous article on new, burgeoning type designers!
Generally, we like to see typefaces as being split into two main categories. In one corner, offering tradition, elegance, and soft, curving strokes, we have the serif typeface. They are noted for their legibility; the serif guides the eye from one character to the next.
On the other side, exuding charm with stark, geometric lines and a simplistic style, stands the sans serif. Originally dubbed “grotesque” due to its crude form, the sans serif is now synonymous with modernism. It’s been coopted by every medium from the chic fashion magazine to the highway road sign.
Is typography still developing?
Serifs typically possess a more ornate letterform. Sans serifs are the sleek, artsy alternative. Of course, this isn’t always the full story. The joy of any art—whether conventionalists cop to it or not— is in bending the rules. The more rules are broken, the more fertile the scene. And typography has its fair share of rule-breaking.
For instance, many modern sans serifs employ high-contrast letterforms and diagonal stresses to achieve the elegance of a serif style without the flowing feet.
But there are some rigid lines in typography—and perhaps sans serif typefaces get stuck with the bulk of it. While designers put themselves to the task of creating new, fresh approaches to an old medium (and often with tremendous results), the letterforms are bound to their shapely confines.
This is a necessary result of the minimal features included in the sans serif style.
What’s in a serif?
But this is a restriction you just don’t see with the serif style. Extra material means more ways of expressing it. And there are a number of ways throughout history that type designers have achieved this expression. One such way is by altering the serif itself.
There’s no real consensus on how many serif styles there are, and as type continues to develop, there will surely be additions. But here are eleven of the most common serif types you’ll find.
Types of Serifs
Gothic
The gothic serif style is often found on Blackletter typefaces. They tend to vary in style, but are typically bilateral, with one side appearing stumpy and the other extending much higher.
Examples: Old English, Fette Fraktur, Enzian
Glyphic
This serif style is derived from chiseled roman lettering, which would produce an indentation at the end of each stoke. The serifs tend to be triangular and tapered on one end.
Examples: Trajan Pro, Saturnia, Epigraph.
Bracketed
Typically considered to be a subsection of glyphic serifs, the primary difference is in the serifs’ sharpness. With traditional glyphic serifs, you’ll see blunt edges. But with bracketed serifs, the edges tend to be sharper.
Examples: Amerigo, Silk Serif, Madley
Oldstyle
One of the most commonly seen types of serifs is Oldstyle. Oldstyle serifs possess traditional, triangular edges, and emulate a calligraphic style. The exact shape can vary, however, ranging from more rounded forms to angular structures.
Examples: Plantin, Garamond, Erato
Wedge
The wedge serif is a more recent development. They can be quite complex as well, often featuring rounded edges and unusual shapes, such as Amman Serif Pro.
Hairline
As the name suggests, hairline serifs tend to be very fine. They’re typically unbracketed (without rounded edges), but some typefaces employ a bracketed hairline serif. These serifs can be seen on many notable typefaces, such as Didot. The hairline style has a more modern feel, as the thin serifs add a sense of high contrast.
Examples: Didot, Bauer Bodoni, Compass Next
Slab (Unbracketed)
There are two types of slab serifs. The first and most common type is the unbracketed slab serif. These serifs are straight, flat, and often geometric in nature.
Slab (Bracketed)
The second type of slab serif is the bracketed form, which is notable for its round, tapered upper edge.
Tuscan
The Tuscan serif style is a quirky style with ends that split evenly from the middle. You won’t see Tuscan serifs terribly often, but you’ll know one when you see one. It adds a western or olde-tyme flair to the text it’s applied to.
Alternatives: 9 Fonts Similar to Helvetica
Maybe you’re looking for a free lookalike. Or possibly you’re interested in a slightly quirky take on an old classic. Whichever camp you fall into, it’s helpful to have a host of alternatives in your repertoire. There are a number of fonts similar to Helvetica to serve this purpose.
This list will compile 9 typefaces that evoke Helvetica’s essence. We’ll be splitting them up into three categories:
Most Similar to Helvetica
3 typefaces that look as similar to Helvetica as possible to the original.
TeX Gyre Heros
Designed by Boguslaw Jackowski and Janusz Nowacki and published by GUST e-foundry. This typeface offers a family of sans serif fonts. It’s actually based on Nimbus Sans. But that’s inspired by Helvetica. TeX Gyre Hero offers two weights: standard and condensed. Within each of these weights, you have the choice between regular, bold, italic, and bold italic. This is your best free alternative if you’re in the market for a Helvetica twin.
Where to find it: fontsquirrel.com
Roboto
Perhaps most well known for being an Andriod default typeface, Roboto makes for a great Helvetica alternative. It’s open-source and entirely free to use. It isn’t an exact match, however. The characters are generally less rounded, and slightly thinner. The typeface is manually delta-hinted for superior rendering on computer monitors.
Where to find it: fonts.adobe.com
Arimo
This typeface might be more comparable to Arial, but Arial has been trying to emulate Helvetica since its inception. Anyway, If you’re looking to avoid the default look, Arimo offers you some interesting aesthetic changes to both Helvetica and Arial.
Where to find it: fonts.adobe.com
Best New Takes on Helvetica
3 typefaces that offer the most effective updates to the original.
Inter
Inter showed up in 2017, designed with the expressed intent of being more legible on computer screens. Created by Rasmus Anderson (who was Spotify’s first designer back in 2006), Inter is an excellent choice for those looking for a Helvetica-like typeface with modern consciousness. With a tall x-height to aid readability and several OpenType features, Inter is effective and has few limits.
Where to find it: fonts.google.com
National
While paying homage to the classic sans serif, National provides a unique approach to its letterform. It has a more rounded look, which lends itself a more contemporary, whimsical quality. However, it doesn’t cross any lines and ultimately rests well in any professional context. Designer Kris Sowersby won the Certificate of Excellence from the Type Designers Club in 2008 for his work on National.
Where to find it: klim.co.nz
Noirden Sans
With six weights and an oblique option, Noirden Sans executes a contemporary update to Helvetica. The adherence to the classic Swiss Style makes this typeface perfect for modern branding. Available in Bold Oblique, Bold, Extra Light Oblique, Extra Light, Light Oblique, Light, Regular Oblique, Regular, Semi Bold Oblique, Semi Bold, Thin Oblique & Thin.
Where to find it: creativemarket.com
Most Quirky Takes on Helvetica
3 typefaces that maintain the intent of Helvetica but with an eccentric twist.
FF Bau
Designed by Christian Schwartz in 2002 and published by FontFont, FF Bau offers a similar feel to Helvetica but has some unique additions, such as thinner letterforms. This typeface supports eighty-two languages and offers eight weights, including Regular, Medium, Bold, and Super. Additionally, an italic style was added in 2004.
Where to find it: myfonts.com
ARS Maquette
ARS Maquette was developed by Angus R. Shamal and released through ARS Type in 2001. But this typeface is versatile, and it’s not just a good alternative to Helvetica. It also conjures sensations of Gotham and Proxima Nova.
Where to find it: fontshop.com
Coolvetica
This typeface merges the modern eloquence of Helvetica with ’70s-inspired custom lettering. It’s set with tight kerning and eccentric flairs. Coolvetica came about at a time when Helvetica was at its peak in popularity. As a result, it found its way onto a number of storefronts and promotional material.
Where to find it: dafont.com
Alternatives: 7 Fonts Similar to Impact
I wrote an article a couple of weeks back about the worst fonts of all time. Truly bad fonts. And it might come as a surprise to know that, when compiling such a list, the criteria is more than just how ugly a font is. There are other factors, including overuse and excessive silliness.
It might make sense that I included a typeface like Impact. When I first gained access to digital word processing software— I was maybe eight years old— I found that Impact provided something that the other stock options didn’t. Of course, at this age, I wasn’t really aware of typographic anatomy. And the concept of Serif vs Sans Serif or x-height or stroke modulation wouldn’t even sideswipe my mind for another decade or so.
You could probably discern the difference between regular and bold, or bold and italic, but beyond that— you’re just looking at raw shapes here. But Impact retained the ability to separate itself from the rest of the bunch with its blocky letters. It was angular in form. Clunky, even. But without fail, it found its way into my and every other child’s tool belt. It was the traffic cone of typefaces, I thought. The serious, no-frills go-to.
But as your eye develops and your sensibilities begin to mature, you quickly find that Impact’s impact isn’t quite so large after all. And that, more times than not, it just leaves your design looking amateur.
Included here are fonts similar to Impact that provide the raw, brute force attention-grabbing you’re going for without the childish air ultimately tied to Impact’s letterforms.
What to look for in an Impact-like font?
When you’ve found yourself reaching for Impact, what you’re looking for is likely a simple, industrial grotesque typeface. Ideally one with geometric qualities. Luckily, there are a whole host of classic options to get you started in the right direction. From here, you can begin to get more nuanced, finding which is right for you through trial and error.
1) Morton
Morton is offered in 9 weights, ranging from a hairline-like thin to a bulkier black. In those higher weights, Morton does offer a very Impacty vibe. It’s not as clunky as the latter, however. It has a vertical stress, with much more presence than Impact. Its counters are larger too. This refers to the space inside letters such as “O” or “e”. Impact has very thin counters, which renders it hard to read in certain instances.
2) Devant Pro
Devant Pro offers a more contemporary feeling with its strong, tall vertical letterforms. But it also possesses an almost art-deco property, aided by its large counters and short legs. This typeface includes three different weights: light, medium, and bold. It also has four styles: italic, condensed, monospace, and normal.
3) Averta Standard
This typeface is a low-modulation classic, meaning there’s little contrast between the thick and thin strokes in the letterforms. It is much closer to the neo-grotesque variants of the sans serif typefaces than the previous two entries. As a result, Averta Standard offers mid-century sleekness without sacrificing immediacy and clarity. This whopping type family includes 16 fonts. Extra thin, thin, light, regular, semi-bold, bold, extra-bold, and black, all available in regular or Italic form.
4) Polly
Polly is a genuine, unadorned geometric sans serif. It’s perfect for those looking for a clean, artful look. It’s well-balanced. Because of the simplicity and evenness of its design, it maintains a crisp look at all weights. And there are four of them: thin, light, regular, and bold.
5) Abside
Abside rests somewhere between the early 20th Century Swiss-style typefaces and Avant-Gothic’s lowercase alphabet. There’s a certain ink blot quality to the letterforms that really mimic the grotesque typefaces used by modernist art movements, such as the Bauhaus school in Germany.
6) Graycliff
Graycliff is Connery Fagen’s 2015 contribution to the Instead of Impact Coalition, and it’s a modern, stripped-down workhorse that’s versatile to boot. At its thinnest weight, it’s perfect for more stylish instances, while the thickest weights come very close to Impact’s feel, with a more sensible approach.
Visby CF
Visby is a strong geometric sans serif with a blocky personality and low-contrast letterforms. Within its type family are eight weights plus options for oblique. Visby distributes its weight neatly, bolstering its legibility at all sizes.
7 Famous Rebrands That Included Font Changes
Companies rebrand for a number of reasons. Undergoing a culture shift can offer an identity for a business, creating a more contemporary feel and reviving an aged or out-of-date brand.
Some rebrands are simpler and include small changes like modifying a logo. Others are much more extensive and include sweeping shifts to everything from the company colors to the name itself.
One the most notable adjustments made in a company’s rebranding efforts is the typography. When a company changes its wordmark, it reshapes its whole identity. One of the most consistent typographic trends over the last handful of decades is the wide use of minimalist sans serif typefaces.
This change can suggest modernity, renewed relevance, and the ushering in of a new era.
Here are 9 rebrands that saw the company redefine its persona through a font change.
Uber
Founded in 2009, Uber’s platform took an unlikely premise and turned it into a ubiquitous method of transportation. In the late 2000s, our pockets were in the midst of a technological renaissance. The cellphone, whose previous iterations were clunky and restrictive, was undergoing a massive overhaul.
Things were changing fast. 2007 saw the unveiling of the Apple iPhone, creating a financially accessible avenue for most people to connect to the internet and its bountiful trove of information. This created a host of new realities that were once unthinkable.
But among the positive developments was the ride-sharing industry. Now our cellphones were capable of hailing a stranger’s vehicle for your own service. Within a few years, it became a part of everyday life.
At the top of the game was Uber. Originally known as Uber Cab, the company changed its name in 2011 after complaints from San Francisco taxicab workers. But, Uber’s made a numner of changes in its short 13-year existence.
Uber’s original icon saw the company’s logo set in a neutral, plaque-like emblem of silvers and grays.
Their 2016 update posited a slightly more complex weaving of light, earthy blues in addition to a reorienting the letter mark, which was now white.
But it was their latest update, unleashed in 2018, that offered us the most scaled-back approach yet. The emblem was entirely done away with. In its place, the full company name. Unadorned. Without embellishment. The font was now a sleek, minimalist sans serif with gentle, modern curves.
Airbnb
Airbnb is another business whose platform would sound entirely wacky to someone time traveling from any point earlier than, like, 2005. And just like Uber, it sounded at odds with people’s comfort levels. You press a few buttons and in no time, you’re completely entrusting your entire wellbeing to a stranger.
But Airbnb had faith that they could shake people of their hangups, and that people had had enough bad encounters with hotels to try their luck on a more intimate, homey experience.
In 2008, Airbnb launched their model with success and are now considered a huge competitive threat to the hotel industry.
But in 2014, they underwent a rebranding. Pictured above is the original Airbnb logo. It dons an airy, cloud-like cursive typeface. And really, it appears quite dated through the contemporary lens. It looks, well, very 2008.
On top of that, it’s not terribly legible. The smudgy characters lay upon one another in clumsily hollowed-out letterforms, fit with a thick blue outline.
The rebrand simplified things a bit. Instead of a messy standalone word mark, they crafted a neat combination mark: a slick bold weight sans serif with an abstract logo—and I mean quite abstract. I had to spend a decent amount of time trying to discern its meaning.
I have a feeling Airbnb anticipated a similar reaction from most people so they created a video explaining their vision.
Santander
Santander Bank has an interesting history. The original parent business, Banco Santander, under which Santander bank operates, has been around since 1857. As a result, its logo history is quite large. This makes for some amusing early logo iterations.
There aren’t too many still-operating businesses that predate the Civil War, and Santander provides us a rare opportunity to see how one brand’s image has fluctuated to suit the times for over 150 years. And you can really see just how logo design and branding as a whole have developed.
To no surprise, the earliest iteration is quite tame by today’s standard. At least in regards to its format; the characters themselves are actually in a quite decorative, Tuscan-serifed typeface. Something you would never see today.
But over time, the effects of modernism took hold. And gradually, Santander’s branding became more simple, and by the 21st Century had essentially rooted its identity in the basic scheme of red and white.
And in 2018, it made its most recent adjustment: the leap to a sans serif and the elimination of the red background, now offering a clear red text on white background.
Mailchimp
2018 also saw Mailchimp change directions. They upended their branding entirely with a new logo, wordmark, typeface, and colors.
Mailchimp got its start as an email marketing company, but eventually extended its services beyond email. Today, they’re a leading marketing platform for small businesses.
The early wordmark was a handwritten, cursive style. It remained unchanged for over a decade, before experiencing a slight change in 2013. The wordmark maintained its Sharpie-like appearance, but now a bit thinner, and with more contrast to the letterforms.
But the most recent iteration sees the inclusion of a mascot, a chimpanzee. Additionally, its typeface has abandoned the cursive writing entirely and opted for funky sans serif that somehow still retains its primate flair.
Burberry
Like many other tenured brands, Burberry has been racing towards a simple and modern look since the mid-1900s. Prior to their most recent change in 2018, we saw them make the leap from a low-and-wide, high contrast slab serif to a more evenly weighted, bold sans serif.
Their logo had always featured an emblem, depicting a knight on horseback with a sword and shield. It conjures feelings of grandeur, pride, and protection.
Between the years 1968 and 2018, the logo also featured the city in which its headquarters exist: London. This is rather typical for luxury fashion houses like Burberry.
This jump to a minimalist feel, abandoning the emblem and settling for a more straightforward feel is a trend that has been developing for decades, especially in fashion and the arts.
Revolut
Another brand showcasing its own pilgrimage towards the polished efficiency of modern rebranding is Revolut. The British fintech company didn’t desert the gradient blue sheen of its previous look, but there are alternatives to their logo that feature a straight black-and-white look.
The major difference is in the typeface, which originally had less rigid, more fluid, curvacious letterforms. Now, Revolut has opted for a more geometric sans serif.
The logo still features a monogram. A strong R, which, interestingly, is in the same typeface as the previous logo.
Microsoft
After 25 solid years, becoming as ubiquitous a name as one can achieve, Microsoft decided it was time for a rebrand.
It too has switched things up by going for a more geometric logo. The previous design included a three-dimensional logo, which at one time suggested the future, forward-thinking, and technological advancement, but now only looks dated.
The rebrand also includes typography changes.
The wordmark was a slightly oblique sans serif with a unique dash connecting the O and the S. In addition to switching from black to a softer gray, the font is no longer oblique.
