The Invisible Impact: How Your Font Choice Defines Your Brand with Alen Kapetanovic

Apr 1, 2026

Ask episode

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

In this episode I dives into the often-overlooked but essential world of typography with Alen Kapetanovic, a type designer and founder of Silver Stag Type Foundry

Alen shares his fascinating transition from civil engineering to running a large design agency, and finally finding true success and freedom through the meticulous art of type design. We explore why fonts are as impactful as color for brand mood, the technical science behind "beautiful collections of letters," and how choosing a unique typeface can elevate a brand without requiring a massive budget.

This episode is sponsored by SilverStag Type Foundry. If you're a designer looking for a typeface that really elevates your brand, SilverStag is a brilliant place to start. It's a one-person type studio creating carefully crafted fonts with multiple weights, alternates, and ligatures; all designed to help brands stand out.

Head to lizmosley.net/SLTF and use the code LIZxSLTF for 20% off.

Key Takeaways

Success is Personal: Alen redefined success by moving away from a high-pressure 15-employee agency back to solo work, prioritising freedom and time for personal life over managing 200 emails a day
Fonts Communicate Subconsciously: Like color, typography conveys emotion and mood before a single word is even read
Legibility is Non-Negotiable: A typeface must be appropriate for its context; a "display" font designed for billboards will often disappear or become illegible when used for small body text in a book or on social media
Invest in Uniqueness: Using a paid or unique typeface is a powerful way to differentiate a brand from the sea of common fonts found in tools like Canva
Typography is a Science: Good type design involves complex rules like "overshoot" and optical illusions to ensure that letters look balanced and work perfectly together as a cohesive set

Episode Highlights

04:47 - Why closing a successful 15-person agency was a move toward true freedom
08:50 - The complexity of type design: Why it's more than just "slanting" letters for italics
12:20 - The "science" of kerning and the technical intricacies of designing a letter like 'S'
16:40 - Why context matters: Using display typefaces vs. text typefaces
21:50 - Subconscious branding: How typography conveys warmth, elegance, or power
24:30 - A critique of recent rebrands (Jaguar and Twitter/X) through a type designer's lens
34:40 - The difference between a collection of beautiful letters and a "beautiful collection"
41:40 - Settling the debate: The difference between a font and a typeface (using the "egg vs. box of eggs" analogy

About the Guest

Alen Kapetanovic is a type designer, founder of Silver Stag Type Foundry, and a podcast host.

I would love to hear what you think of this episode, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @‌lizmmosley or @‌buildingyourbrandpodcast and I hope you enjoy the episode!

This episode was written and recorded by me and produced by Lucy Lucraft lucylucraft.co.uk

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a 5* rating and review!