➜ As a designer or marketing executive, you can never totally avoid the term ‘corporate identity’. It is a term imbued in every modern business. It is something that defines who you are, everything from the way you look, what you do, and how you do it. This seemingly esoteric word has two major aspects, the conceptual and the visual, and ideally, both must work simultaneously for any corporate identity to be uniquely identifiable. But sadly, this is usually not the case. Businesses often put so much effort into the conceptual part and leaving so little for making the intangible tangible. There are many companies, especially in Thailand, that mistakenly see the visual aspects of corporate identity as a mere combination of a logo, a color scheme, a font, and some auxiliary graphics; and once they are done, use it repeatedly, and make sure the logo is big. On the contrary, a big logo merely symbolizes a weak identity—it shows how little confidence you have in other components of your visual identity. For a brand to be powerful, every single element in its communication has to lead back to the company, either consciously or subconsciously. But when it comes down to corporate typeface, there is this common (and unintelligent) belief that any font would do as long as it looks suitable for the image. Only a few has the vision to see that these little letters has the potential to be an image itself. Take radio commercials for example; you want the narrator to express your well-crafted script confidently, proudly, and perhaps uniquely so that whenever an audience hears it, he or she can recall your product. You wouldn’t just pick anyone to voice your message. You want that voice to be persuasive and believable. Much of what happens in visual corporate identity is curiously similar. You want to persuade, you want to be heard, and not just as anybody but as a unique individual. It’s not just your personality that matters, but everything from dress to gesture, including the words you use to express yourself and how you voice it. But many tend to forget that fact and become content with just dressing nicely and being able to speak.

In a market where competition is fierce, such as in the US, the use of custom typeface as a part of corporate identity proves quite popular. In fact, they have been around since the early 90s and eventually growing into a significant visual aspect of many corporations. Walking into a local bookstore in Bangkok, however, one could sadly see countless magazines with flashy covers screaming ridiculously for attention with only a few standing proudly and majestically among the crowd. Magazines such as Wallpaper, Di-Chan, and 3D World went through the trouble of searching for their own typeface. One wouldn’t find Amplitude THAI™, DiChan™, and 3D World THAI™ in any other magazines or brands. Thus, when they speak, they speak uniquely and confidently with their own voice. It’s also a matter of visibility and categorization. In the newsstand, one would usually see the title of the magazine before anything else since the lower half is partly concealed by the socket where it is placed, leaving the upper half the only thing nakedly visible. That’s why most magazines set their logo somewhere at the top and spent a considerable amount of time making it identifiable. And once a reader starts scanning the pages, you wouldn’t want your fashion magazine (if it were a fashion magazine) to sound like a sci-fi geek. Most art directors can avoid that but they usually wind up picking another typeface already in-use by other brands. In the end, they tend to rely on the difference of their content while overlooking the context, which is actually what most corporate identities thrive on.

Magazines may have specific target consumers, but that doesn’t mean large organizations should remain bland because of their correspondence with the masses. As a matter of fact, the larger the audience one communicates to, the more important it is to have a firm and clear identity. CAT, AIS, dtac, Tesco Lotus, S&P, and Nokia all has their own custom typeface. Instead of paying a large sum of money for the license of some existing common font, they decided to invest in a custom typeface, which in the long run could prove more beneficial. It may appear expensive at a glance, but a typeface is not something one pays for every year. Most custom fonts are designed for timelessness rather than fashion and could remain appealing even after a decade. For international brands such as dtac (Telenor), Nokia, and Tesco Lotus, it provides a way to localize their global corporate identity while keeping their original identity intact. Aside from distinguishing themselves in all forms of text-based communication medias, custom typefaces also have some technical advantages. For instance, AIS’ SMB Advance was designed to have the same proportion as its corresponding English typeface, Frutiger, so that there would be no need to adjust the font size when using the two together. On the surface, it may just appear to make designing layout more convenient but in actuality, this kind of little details keep the visual across all media channels consistent. Even when conversing with all levels of social classes, one would still prefer to speak professionally and with one’s own voice, correct?

When looking at how branding and context effectively influence our mind, one doesn’t have to look far. Along the busy streets of Bangkok are numerous advertisements of alcoholic beverages, minus the beverage, of course. Alcohol advertisements in Thailand are forbidden by law to display the actual product. Thus, alcohol companies have to, perhaps quite willingly, resort to an even more powerful communication device—branding. Brand and corporate identity becomes their main selling point and every aspect of it has to be distinct, including typography. Chang Sans™, HongThong Gothic™, Mekong Gothic™, Blend™, and Federbräu Sans™ are evidences of this process. And when type is unique enough and used effectively, it could become a signifier of the brand, which denotes the product. One may someday see the distinct ‘ห’ of Chang Sans™ and immediately recalls the brand it belongs to. Reaching that point may prove quite difficult but not impossible (remember Orange?). Once it’s achieved, a brand would have mastered one of its most fundamental tools of corporate identity. Almost every forms of communication has some kind of text—a readable message to be delivered. Wouldn’t it be great to have the audience think of your brand even before reading the message?

One thing worth noting is that there is a world of difference between a free font and a well-designed commercial or custom font. Most free fonts are products of a side business or one man’s hobby. Approaching a typeface design for corporate use is an entirely different matter. It requires professional procedures, an understanding of the client and consumer, and a reliable team of designers and technicians. Moreover, the technological and technical aspects of type design, such as hinting (the process in which a type is optimized for screen readability) and lab-testing, is extremely labor intensive and demands considerable experience and expertise to perform well. Not something a mere Fontlab user could do.

For all that is said above, one could still question the necessity of custom typeface in Thailand. Unlike the US, the market isn’t as competitive. But instead of waiting for the market to be more competitive, why not plan a decade ahead? Isn’t it always a good idea to start well and make every aspect of one’s corporate identity as strong as possible? Custom typeface may not be necessary for everyone. For followers who are content with being second, having a logo and some visual scheme may be sufficient. But for those who aspires to be at the top of their game, it’s never enough. A good and solid custom typeface may as well be the only thing inimitable in corporate identity. Anyone can imitate the way you dress, the makeup you wear, and even the things you do, but not your voice. Even if they try to do so, it wouldn’t be exactly the same, unless you have somehow granted them your voice. So, the next time you wish someone to listen to you, ask yourself one simple question first, ‘Do I have a voice?’ ∗