What Can We Learn About Font Psychology From Pop Culture? [Infographic]

Alice Corner — November 4, 2019

Font psychology sounds complicated, but it basically refers to what sort of font you use in your graphic design, and what that says about the intended meaning of your design.

For example, a curly and decorative font would mean that something was fancy, or special. And a font with sharp edges and drips off the bottom of the letters would imply that you’re talking about something scary.

Venngage studied Netflix’s top 50 shows to learn about font psychology in pop culture, and analyzed trends and meanings in those fonts. Check out the infographic below for a summary of the findings:

Made using Venngage Mind Map Maker

So what does these mean for marketers? Well for a start, we know in digital marketing that audience attention spans are short and competition for that attention is high.

In Netflix’s case, certain fonts are used to instantly let potential viewers know what to expect from that show, and content marketers should take a similar approach.

For the font from Riverdale, a teen drama, Netflix have chosen a varsity style font so viewers expect a show that takes place in a college or high school. And with Big Mouth, an animated comedy, a playful hand-drawn style font is used so viewers aren’t expecting anything serious.

We can apply these lessons to our content by thinking about what the viewer (or audience, or client, or customer etc) of that content will expect. If you’re advertising an e-book or a webinar you want to be seen as authoritative, so using a hand drawn font probably isn’t right for that occasion. You’d be looking to use something more in line with the ‘modern’ category of font.

Font psychology isn’t an exact science. Fonts alone don’t make people see a poster and think, “I could spend the next 20 hours watching this show.” But managing viewer expectations based on the font you use is an easy way to take control and ensure that viewers know what to expect when they choose a program to watch. And in content marketing, you should help your audience know what to expect when picking a font in order to ensure maximum impact.

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