I read an article the other day that claimed, “Everything you know about marketing, is dead.” I had to let that sink in and I do understand that things are changing all the time. I know marketing has changed with the advent of mobile devices and social media, but I thought I would resurrect some old rules and ideas and see if you think they’re dead.
Rules of Thumb
I always liked those rules that lead me to the promised land, even if they are rules I deliberately wanted to break and the people who believe everything I used to know about marketing is dead, are breaking them all, all the time. The first lesson I learned about design was about Typography. You know, the fonts and letter types used in everything we see.
Typography
For starters, I agree that typography got its start in the print business, specifically the newspaper business, and I will grant that newspapers, even printed books, are out of favor just now. The first rule I discovered is there are two types of fonts, serifed and sans-serif fonts. The serifed fonts have feet and embellishments while the sans-serifed do not. When using headlines and body copy, you should use either one for the headlines and the other for the body. Now I can imagine you are saying to yourself, “But he didn’t follow his rule here, his headlines are sans-serifed as well as his body. That is true, and one of the rules I have deliberately broken.
Style
Within the realm of typography, style is used to convey feeling, emotion, and tone. For example, a new, forward-thinking company would do well to use Avant Guard, a sans-serifed font to convey its modern approach to
business where traditional (dare I say old-fashioned) businesses might rely on a serifed font like Times Roman or Palatino to demonstrate their conservative reliable business style. This list is endless and offers designers infinite possibilities.
Link to an article on Typography by Robin Sentell
Impact Marketing 