Font Psychology: Why Fonts Matter and How They Influence Consumer Behavior (PsychoProfits) by Richard G. Lewis

Font Psychology: Why Fonts Matter and How They Influence Consumer Behavior (PsychoProfits) Reviews

• 
  Jamie Bee

  Not Much Consumer Behavior Psychology Substance
  
  This will sound funny, but I’ve been a typeface and font geek… since the days of dot-matrix printers. I love playing around with the effects different fonts give, whether personally or professionally. (By the way, I have a favorite font: Cambria!) So, when I saw this book at a book review site, I knew I had to snap it up. Unfortunately, it really didn’t go as much into the psychology of typefaces/fonts and branding as I was led to believe… and was hoping for. The author provided a lot of data about typeface sets—and even backed it up with research references, which I always appreciate—but data about fonts doesn’t lead naturally to the psychology of consumer behavior because of them unless an author leads us there. This one didn’t. The book has lots of illustrations of the typefaces discussed… but not all had illustrations. Since this is a very visual topic, the author should have included all fonts written about. I also thought the author assumed a LOT about the readers’ typeface/font knowledge. He would randomly drop names of other fonts not otherwise discussed or use font jargon without definitions, expecting the reader to know obscure terms and make the connections and correlations between unknown typefaces/fonts. While I love typefaces/fonts, I don’t know them all or all the terms. One plus: He often showed not just the “bald” typefaces but also how they are used in logos and other branding. The book had some wild errors in punctuation, usage, and consistency. My guess is that the book was not professionally copyedited or even proofread. I did read a PDF ARC copy. I checked the book preview at Amazon, but the sample there wasn’t long and was relatively clean; the problems I saw happened after the sample. Hopefully, though, that means the author DID have it professionally edited/proofed before publication. Ultimately, the book didn’t quite have enough “meat” about what should have been the core topic.
  
  I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
• 
  Nicole Normand

  I found this book for free on Amazon via Freebooksy; this is my honest review
  -Although the information given is all interesting and the content precise and well organized, I didn't see how the author delivered the promise of "Knowing How to Influence Your Audiences’ Behavior Through The Use of Different Typefaces Can Have a Hugely Positive Impact on your Success.". He also used Wikipedia as a source for statistics. 🙄
  -I got confused when the author states that we should use a font that our visitor can read and easily downloadable for faster result. If he says "you should use a legible typeface", that means some illegible ones exist. Why do they exist, then, if they are not quite readable?
  -He divided the fonts into categories such as traditional, technical and fun, among others. He has ~25 different fonts explained and shown, with an example of a well-known logo, such as Goodreads, Starbucks, The Times, etc., but I really think he could have chosen a better picture for the Bebas Neuf font ("bare b**bs" written on a t-shirt).
  -The author shows great passion for the fonts he presents; just by the way he talks about them, and the respect he brings about.
  -Although I really like Comic Sans myself, I know I'm among the few left that appreciates it. But I didn't think his "Fun Typefaces" were fun until I Googled the lot and landed at Creative Bloq. My Kindle couldn't show me those really fun typefaces, the very same ones as in this book.
  -At the end, you get a FAQ worth reading.
• 
  Tanya

  This stylish and elegant typeface is very much suitable for official purposes. [loc. 457]

  This book would have been better as a blog post. It's a short overview of font usage on marketing and publicity material, with a focus on web design, and though I'd have found it a useful reference twenty or thirty years ago, it's not saying anything new or interesting.

  It would also have benefitted from an editor, or at least a proofreader. 'San serif', 'sans-serif' and 'sans serif' are used interchangeably; Montserrat is spelt three different ways; not all the fonts are illustrated with examples; the author first recommends Arial (yawn) for business purposes but then includes it in a list of fonts (including Comic Sans and Papyrus) that have been 'overused'. The footnotes aren't linked in the main text, and the descriptions of fonts are so repetitive as to be meaningless ('very much suitable for official purposes'... 'one of the most favourite typefaces of all time' ...) Might be a good starting point for a student project but not much use to an industry professional.

  
  

  Fulfils the ‘Art / Design’ rubric of the
  Annual Non-Fiction Reading Challenge.

  
  
• 
  luckykarmatx

  This is an invaluable resource for the right audience. It's a very quick and easy read that would be perfect for a new or small business owner. Anyone looking to rebrand their small business needing a a suggestions or advice on fonts to use would truly appreciate this book as well. There is not much by way of psychology per se, so someone looking to dig deep into that aspect of it wouldn't see the same value in this book. Personally, I'm very happy that I found this book and would be looking for more works by this author!