In This Issue…

How to Use Xahn Mono for Logo, Branding & More

• Font of the Week: Xanh Mono
• Design idea of the Week: Brand Story
• Color Inspiration of the Week: Primary Brand Color 

Font of the Week 

All About Xanh Mono

Sometimes monospaced fonts don’t feel the most exciting. They seem humble and functional. They are coding fonts that live in code editors and excel sheets. Xanh Mono completely breaks this stereotype. It brings elegance to your design with pronounced editorial-looking serifs that are not seen in other monospaced fonts. 

Font Details

Xanh Mono is a transitional serif. This type of serif has slight contrast in strokes and "ball terminals" on some of its lowercase letters, like "a" and "y." These ball terminals give your tone an extra class and grandeur. Xanh Mono has one weight and two styles: regular and italic.

How to use it for logos?

Xanh Mono has a contemporary, classic voice. The large serifs on the letters remind me of magazine editorials targeted towards a sophisticated audience.

How to use it for logo and marketing?

Xanh Mono is fantastic in headers and display sizes. I especially love the italic because it is a true (cursive) italic. This italic is excellent for headers and call-outs on marketing graphics. The ball terminals appear more frequently in the italic lowercase to give an extra expressiveness. Because Xanh only has one weight, it is best to pair it with another font, like Roboto or Plex Sans for projects like landing pages.

 

As a coding font? 

Because of its large serifs, I find Xanh Mono uncomfortable to stare at them for hours when I’m coding.  If you want to dig deeper into coding fonts, here is a great article you might like that reviews several good monospaced fonts for coding.

Design Idea of the Week

Brand Story 

A brand story is a narrative that you create that encompasses the facts and feelings created by your brand. It's what customers believe about the product based on the signals your brand send. Everything you do in your brand, like the visual materials, social presence, and customer experience, can all contribute to these signals. 

For example, if you have a startup, how you set out to start your business, what it means to you, what values you want to bring to your customers can all be part of a brand story of making and creating independently.

 

Color Inspiration of the Week

Primary Brand Color 

Primary brand color is the main color used on marketing graphics, websites, signages, and other visual materials. Typically, this is the main color that is associated with your brand. For example, the primary brand color for Coca-Cola is red.

To find primary brand color: 

There are a couple of approaches you can take:

1. Look at what similar brands in your niche are doing.

2. Research about what brand personality different colors are associated with.

3. Create mood boards of things or values inspired or associated with your brand. I wrote more about this process here.

🌱 Jargon Buster!

Serif 

Serifs are letters with "serifs," which are small lines attached to the end of letter strokes. 

Creative Prompt

Can you write a brand story for your business?

Thank you!

Thanks for being here for another week. Xanh Mono is available here. It is designed by Yellow Type, Lam Bao, and Duy Dao.