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I have been given a professionally created Brand Standards Manual that defines two fonts in the brand. When I am designing the website, should I just use the fonts defined in this standard for my headings and body?

In case you are wondering, the logo is composed of Futura Bold and Myriad regular, which is what I was thinking of using for heading (Futura) and body (Myriad), which I think go well together paired.

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    You should be asking that question of the company. It's up to them if you're allowed to use fonts outside brand standards manual. It would seem reasonably to use the fonts in the standards if the standards apply to website design. On the other hand the standards might be just something to go by as inspiration for what the brand looks like. – Chris Aug 14 '12 at 2:53
  • @Chris You should post that as an answer. :-) – Rahul Aug 14 '12 at 9:36
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    Even considered from the branding point of view, it is not a good idea to let the logo's fonts proliferate. From the user point of view, it would have the effect of not helping the logo stand out distinctively in its environment. Finally from the designer's angle, the criteria for selection of fonts suitable for the logo and the text body are as different as can be. – Kris Aug 15 '12 at 8:13
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if you know of a better place that I should be asking questions like this, please let me know.

Yes, you should be asking the brand stewards (aka, typically the marketing folks) at the company you got the style guide from.

Typically typography is part of the style and brand guidelines and is separate (though related) to the logomark itself.

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  • Yes I agree, I think I will run it by the designer. The designer is definetly more skilled then I am at this and would like say, 'Yes that is a good idea', or 'No, try this'. – Kelly Hays Aug 14 '12 at 22:41
  • -1 All said it is still relevant to UX and also the relevant perspective here is of UX. Pl also see my comment at OP. – Kris Aug 15 '12 at 8:08
  • @Kris did I say it wasn't? – DA01 Aug 15 '12 at 15:21
  • The quote you referred to has been edited off. That said, "you should be asking the brand stewards" has the implication of "this is not the right place, or, at least, not the best place." – Kris Aug 16 '12 at 7:23
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    The designer got back to me and these are his words (I am prarpharsing) "The fonts on the logo will have more emphasis if they are unique on the site. Using the same fonts as the logo will reduce the strength of the logo." This is been a great learning experience for me, I agree with what he is saying and I am glad that I asked him (thanks @DA01). I guess at the end of the day, the brand is extremely important (to branding experts at least) and the rest of the site should be designed in such a way that compliments (not competes, or copies) the brand of the site. – Kelly Hays Aug 16 '12 at 14:12
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First of all, you can't actually use Myriad for a website, at least not without embedding it using CSS font-face, and you would have to pay for the appropriate font license (if it is not a free font).

The manual is a reference, but a logo design can be something very different from a website design. I would consider the website a product by itself, but always keeping in mind that there has to be a consistency between it and the identity. In the case of fonts, there are 'safe' ones that are usually picked because:

a) Most computers have them (so you don't need to host them), and / or,

b) They are proven to render good across browsers and ios.

Now it's quite easy to have a more personalised choice of types, mainly because of web services. But I think your focus should be on the products requirements. And about fonts, these are: Be readable, look nice. Except if your whole logo is based on a particular font, but if it's not the case, I'd use Futura or similar for headings and a standard sans-serif for body.

Here are a couple of fonts for live testing: http://charlesmoir.com/fonts/

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    Why would it render horribly? Font-face is quite a common standard used across all current browsers, and has been for several years. – JonW♦ Aug 14 '12 at 6:29
  • This advice would be useful in 2008, but not in 2012, where custom font faces are increasingly the norm. – Rahul Aug 14 '12 at 9:36
  • @JonW maybe not horribly, but quite badly. I've tried lots of fonts, and it depends on the ios apart from the browser, but if you want to be as ample as possible, the differences are huge. font-face has been around for quite some time now, but the results haven't really changed. – Yisela Aug 14 '12 at 20:35
  • Thanks for the response @yisela, I have found the rending Myriad pro to be very nice through type-kit, even on Windows Chrome (which seems to do a poor job of rendering every other embeded font) and IE7. – Kelly Hays Aug 14 '12 at 22:39
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Even considered from the branding point of view, it is not a good idea to let the logo's fonts proliferate.

From the user point of view, it would have the effect of not helping the logo stand out distinctively in its environment.

Finally, from the designer's angle, the criteria for selection of fonts suitable for the logo and the text body are as different as can be.

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  • @DA01 cf my answer, "it would have the effect of not helping the logo stand out distinctively in its environment." and "Using the same fonts as the logo will reduce the strength of the logo." – Kris Aug 17 '12 at 10:47
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You should also consider typographic contrast; it may strengthen the power of a logo and enhance the readability of a site. Read about the Seven principles of typographic contrast

But it depends on the Brand Guidelines if you have any leeway in using them.

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Although, I agree with @DA01. I would have to say that for a design it is always very good idea to incorporate as much branding into the website as possible. I would not go the extreme and use only the brand fonts on the site. My suggestion along with working with the client/marketing department would be to include the brand fonts in an attention grabbing way. Such as headings and call to action areas.

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