All marketers are familiar with the idea of visual branding with logos and colors. And while most consumers on a day-to-day basis don’t notice fonts, a switch in font can completely change the look and feel of a brand.

Nowadays though, with people consuming content across laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other devices, it’s become a no-brainer to have the same recognizable font across all mediums. So to stand out, a few brands have started to create their own fonts to use in content and visual branding.

Check out the branded fonts these four brands have created to take branding to the next level.

1. Intel

Semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel recognized that a font could not only help create a unified brand image, but with people reading off of digital screens now more than ever, typeface makes a big difference in how easy something is to read.

So earlier this year, Intel launched a font that it developed to help streamline its brand image –that would scale different screens, different languages, and different mediums globally. The result was Intel® Clear: simple, subtle, and easy to read font that now appears on all Intel’s branding. 

2. Nokia

Nokia has long been on board with using its own branded font and for many years used Nokia Sans. In 2011, however, the brand decided it was time for the font branding to get an upgrade, so the cell phone developer launched Nokia Pure.

To develop the font, Finland-based Nokia worked with famous typographer Dalton Maag and with the Finlandia Vodka spirits company. The result is a crisper font that is much easier on the eyes – especially when it appears on Nokia smartphones. Unfortunately, the new font hasn’t help Nokia sell more phones as the company sales continue to drop – proving it certainly takes more than a visual rebrand to turn a company around. 

3. GE

Prior to 2002, GE had been using the popular font Futura for all its content, but the company was in need of a visual facelift. So the technology manufacturer enlisted the help of Michael Abbink – an accomplished typeface designer working at Wolff Olins at the time.

The collaborations with Abbink ended up with one of the most iconic brand fonts created to date – GE Inspira. Keeping in line with the other brands in GE, the font clean and precise. Although it is a proprietary font, the manufacturer does allow employees and others with a GE log in to download the font for free – likely so it can appear on more GE branded content. 

4. Airbnb

When the travel accommodations site Airbnb rebranded and redesigned its site and image earlier this month, the new logo is what created the most buzz. But the logo wasn’t the only major visual upgrade the brand undertook, as both mobile and web sites received a facelift that included a custom new font.

Dubbed “Air,” the new font is a strong, straight sans serif font that easily translates across Airbnb’s different site and content. And best of all, it fits perfectly in with the new logo and offers a fresh look to the sites’ redesigns.