A brand typeface is not always a product typeface

Most brand fonts weren’t built for products

They’re designed to dazzle in headlines, campaigns, and landing pages not to survive in buttons, tooltips, or dense data tables. But UI typography lives in tighter spaces, at smaller sizes, under stricter constraints. That’s where even beautiful fonts start to fall apart.

Typography is one of the most expressive and constant elements in a product. It sets tone, guides structure, and shows up everywhere. So when the brand font doesn’t hold up, teams default to system fonts. Not because they’re ideal but because they’re invisible.

It’s a common pattern: what works in a branding deck often breaks in the actual product.

But a font that doesn’t work everywhere isn’t useless. Many brand fonts still have a role onboarding flows, headings, empty states moments where voice matters more than density. The key is knowing where to use it, and when to step back.

This article is about making typography decisions that hold up under pressure. Because the right typeface doesn’t just support your brand. It carries it clearly, consistently, and where it matters most: inside the product.

Why brand fonts fail in product

Brand fonts are often chosen for how they feel: expressive, recognisable, a little different. They shine in high-impact moments on landing pages, in keynote decks, across big headlines. That’s their job: to create emotion and leave an impression.

But that same font, dropped into a dense UI, rarely performs the way teams hope.

The issues are usually technical, not aesthetic:

• The x-height is too low to read comfortably at small sizes.

• The letter spacing collapses in buttons or form fields.

• It lacks intermediate weights, so you’re stuck choosing between too-light and too-bold.

• It wasn’t hinted for screen use, so it renders poorly across devices or browsers.

• It might not even support the full character set you need.

Suddenly, that carefully chosen font becomes a liability. So teams scramble for a quick fix. Most reach for a system font, Inter, SF Pro, or Roboto, not because it fits the brand but because it won’t break anything.

It’s a reasonable move. System fonts are reliable, readable, and safe. But they also flatten tone. They do just enough to stay out of the way, but never enough to say something independently.

That’s why the best solutions don’t just swap one font for another they treat typography like a system. One that can flex depending on where it shows up in the product.

What product typography needs to do

A good product typeface doesn’t just look nice, it needs to perform under pressure. In real interfaces, typography carries a heavy load: guiding users, clarifying content, reinforcing brand, and staying legible in the tightest corners of the UI.

Here’s what that actually means:

1. It needs to perform

Product typography lives where space is limited and friction is high. Your font needs to hold up at 12–14px, still look sharp on low-resolution screens, and handle dense layouts like tables, forms, and mobile views. It should offer multiple weights (or be variable), render cleanly across platforms, and stay readable in both light and dark themes.

2. It needs to support the brand

Just because a font is functional doesn’t mean it has to be bland. A strong product typeface carries tone quietly, through shape, rhythm, and detail. Maybe that’s a slightly rounded terminal, a distinctive lowercase “a,” or how it behaves in motion. Subtle quirks can go a long way in making an interface feel intentional.

3. It needs to scale

A good typeface supports multiple languages, screen sizes, and use cases. It should feel just as comfortable in a tooltip as it does in a heading or a help article. And it shouldn’t fall apart when stretched across platforms, from desktop dashboards to mobile apps and embedded components.

When all of this works, typography fades into the experience. It doesn’t fight for attention. It clarifies, guides, and just feels right. And when it doesn’t work, no amount of layout polish can fix it.

My process for choosing type that works

Choosing the right typography for a product isn’t about finding the perfect font, it’s about building the right system for the job. Brand teams usually start with tone. Product teams usually start with constraints. I try to meet somewhere in the middle.

Here’s how I approach it:

1. Start with tone, not just looks

Before touching any font files, I ask: What should this product feel like? Calm? Efficient? Energetic? Friendly? That tone becomes the lens I use to evaluate every option. If the type doesn’t support it, it’s out, no matter how trendy it looks.

2. Test in real UI, fast

I never trust specimen sheets. I drop fonts directly into buttons, tooltips, inputs, modals. If it breaks there, it’ll break in production. I’m looking for spacing issues, poor rendering, weight imbalances, anything that compromises clarity or flow.

3. Look for range

A good typeface can flex. It should handle tiny microcopy and oversized headlines. It should hold up in dark mode, work on mobile, and still feel like itself when the UI gets dense. If it can’t stretch, it can’t scale.

4. Split the roles when needed

Sometimes the brand font just isn’t built for dense UI, and that’s okay. I’ll use it in headings or empty states, then bring in a secondary font for the core interface. Other times, I look for a superfamily with both display and text styles that can cover both needs without losing visual cohesion.

This isn’t about perfection, it’s about pragmatism. The goal is to make the interface feel intentional, readable, and in character with the brand, even when space is tight and friction is high.

Should you consider a bespoke font?

Most teams don’t need a custom typeface. But for the ones that do, it can be one of the most strategic brand decisions they make.

A bespoke font gives you complete control, over tone, function, performance, and ownership. It’s not just about standing out visually. It’s about designing a typographic system that fits your product like a glove, not like something off the shelf.

You should consider a custom font if:

• Your current font can’t scale with your product’s technical or linguistic needs

• You want a consistent visual voice across brand, product, and marketing

• You’re trying to solve specific UI challenges (e.g., space constraints, accessibility, multilingual support)

• You want to avoid licensing headaches as you grow

• You want to have something exclusive

I’ve worked with teams who chose this route not just for aesthetics but to build long-term equity. A custom font becomes part of your infrastructure. It’s yours, and it speaks in your voice, everywhere your product lives. 

It’s a serious investment, yes. But when done well, it pays off in clarity, consistency, and brand distinctiveness, right down to the last tooltip.

What you can steal from the best

You don’t need one font to do everything. Some of the best product teams use multiple typefaces each with a specific job. Here are three companies approach their typography with clarity and intent. 

Zapier: Letting fonts play to their strengths

Zapier uses typography like a toolkit, not a logo stamp. Instead of forcing a single font across every surface, they built a system where each typeface has a clearly defined role.

• Degular Display brings energy to bold, high-impact headlines.

• GT Alpina adds warmth and a human voice to longer-form content and testimonials.

• Inter carries the core UI, fast, clean, and unintrusive where it counts.

What makes their system work is how deliberate it is. Every font has a job, and none of them compete. It’s personality and performance in balance.

Takeaway: You don’t need one font to do everything, you need a system that adapts to different moments.  

Wise: Expression up top, function underneath

Wise strikes one of the most thoughtful balances between brand and product typography. Instead of compromising, they separate tone from function, and let each font focus on what it does best.

• Wise Sans, their custom display font, is global and expressive. Inspired by signs and letterforms from around the world, it brings character to key messages and brand moments.

• Inter does the heavy lifting in the UI, dense tables, mobile screens, buttons, where clarity and scale matter more than flair.

 The result is a system that feels intentional and human without ever becoming decorative or inefficient.

Takeaway: Let your expressive font speak where tone matters, and support it with a UI font that can scale globally.

Andel: One typeface, no compromises

Andel took a different route: one typeface that does it all. In collaboration with Playtype, they developed Andel Sans, a bespoke font that balances Danish design restraint with real-world product utility.

It’s clean, functional, and unmistakably theirs. It works across headings, labels, body text, and dense UI without ever slipping into generic. Subtle warmth in the forms keeps it approachable, while the structure remains strong enough for product use.

What makes it impressive is the simplicity. One typeface, well considered, used with consistency.

Takeaway: If your tone is clear and your product needs are defined, a single well-designed font can do more than you think.

What these systems teach us

These examples aren’t just about good type choices, they’re about designing systems that adapt.

• Fonts work better in teams. Assign roles to avoid compromises.

• Intent beats trend. Choose type that fits your product, not just your moodboard.

• Don’t force consistency, design for context. Let expressive fonts shine in the right moments, and support them where clarity matters.

• Simplicity can win. One great font, used well, can go further than you think.

Good typography is less about what font you choose, and more about how, where, and why you use it.

Final thoughts

Typography isn’t just styling it’s structure, tone, and voice. It’s one of the most persistent elements in any product, and one of the easiest to overlook.

When brand and product typography are aligned, the whole experience feels more intentional. When they’re not, even the best UI starts to feel generic.

So treat type like the infrastructure it is. Don’t choose it just for the big moments, choose it for where your product actually lives: in buttons, tables, onboarding flows, and help docs.

Because the right font doesn’t just reflect your brand, it reinforces it, everywhere it matters.