Design is font and centre

There's room for more than one serif in town these days. Typographers are reworking old logos and giving startups a new look. See how every letter matters

- Christalle Fernandes

Back in June, Spotify announced that it was redesigning its logo and releasing a new font to upgrade its visual identity. The new typeface, Spotify Mix, aimed to keep up with the “dynamic and evolving nature of audio culture," it said.

Users didn't think so. Most people hadn't paid attention to the font before - when it was changed, a sense of unease crept in. They flooded social media with complaints almost immediately. "That's the power of typography," explains Anand Naorem, the co-founder and creative director of Indian typeface design company Altertype. "Every second of our lives, we're interacting with text, whether we realise it or not."

Here's how design firms are creating memorable logos and lettering that stand out from the crowd.

Sign and language

It used to be that the logo - like in the case of Axis Bank, Asian Paints, and Star TV- came first, and the typeface later. Now, it's all done together to look more cohesive. It also involves more than picking out a cute symbol, typeface and palette. In a world where a brand's identity competes with rivals and every icon on our screens, even fonts matter.