Choosing the Right Font for Your Watermark 

When creating a visible watermark, the font selection has a significant impact on both the watermark and any photos you overlay with it. Unless you're schooled in the art of typography, finding the perfect font can be a long trial-and-error process. Here are some tips to help you find the right font for your watermark--a font that will add to your watermark, brand and photos.

Look for  Fonts That Show Up on Photographs

First and foremost, the font you choose should show up well on photographs. A visible watermark, after all, is intended to be seen. If your font's letters aren't readily visible, the effectiveness of the watermark will be reduced.

Many fonts show up well, but a few that have abnormally skinny letters don't. If you're planning on making the size of your watermark font 36-points or larger, you can probably use any but the skinniest of fonts. If you want to keep your font size smaller so that it doesn't cover the entire picture, a bold font that has thicker letters may work well.

Limit Your Choices to Fonts That Are Consistent with Your Branding

Second, a good font will be consistent with your current branding. Your watermark may be the first branding that prospective clients are exposed to, so it's important that your watermark conveys the same message as the rest of your marketing and branding efforts.

To find a font that is consistent with your branding message, first look at the fonts on your website, business card and letterhead. If one of these works well as a watermark font, your choice could be easy. If none of the fonts you're currently using work well as a watermark, you might want to change the fonts of your website, business card and letterhead to match the font that you choose for your watermark. Using the same font across all of these areas will ensure you have a consistent brand message, at least as far as your font selection goes.

Select a Font That Enhances Your Photos

Third, the ideal font will enhance your photos. It won't overpower your photos and detract from them. Conversely, it will add to them by reinforcing the feeling that your images evoke.

Exactly what font complements your photos will depend on what type of photography you specialize in. For instance, if you take landscape shots of rural barns, you'll want a different font than someone who specializes in grunge portraits of inner-city youth. A flowing font that resembles handwritten cursive may reinforce the old-fashioned, relaxed feelings that barns in the country bring to mind, while a font with block lettering might better suggest the graffiti that's found in many inner-city neighbourhoods.

If you don't specialize in one type of photography, pick a generic, clean font that can be used with most photos. If you're a general photographer, it makes sense to have a generic, professional watermark.

Consider Multiple Fonts for a Multi-Faceted Watermark

Ultimately, you don't have to limit yourself to just one font. Using multiple fonts can help you distinguish collections or styles from one another, while creating consistency within each collection and using fonts that enhance each collections' photos. Using several fonts within a single watermark can even be helpful, as it makes distinguishing the different components of your watermark easier and lets you combine styles into a single watermark.

If you're looking for the ideal font for your watermark, check out the selection on Water Marquee. The platform not only gives photographers a large number of fonts to choose from, but lets photographers use as many fonts as they would like.