Typography as a Business Communication Medium in Corporate Branding

Typography is a foundational element of visual communication with a growing recognition in branding scholarship and practice for its capacity to convey identity, values, and meaning beyond mere legibility. This article examines typography as a business communication medium within corporate branding, arguing that type choices and typographic systems function as strategic assets that shape stakeholder perceptions, differentiate brands, and support organisational narratives. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from semiotics, visual rhetoric, and brand identity theory, the paper develops an integrated conceptual framework that links typographic decisions to brand equity outcomes. Using a qualitative research methodology—combining semi-structured interviews with brand and design practitioners, document analysis of corporate identity guidelines, and visual discourse analysis of typographic applications—this study explores how corporations use typography to communicate corporate personality, values, and positioning. Findings highlight the deliberate use of custom typefaces and modular typographic systems to signal authenticity and distinctiveness, the role of typographic consistency in building trust and recognition, tensions between global brand standardisation and local adaptation, and typographic accessibility and sustainability as emergent priorities. The paper concludes with managerial implications for brand strategy and recommendations for typographic governance, plus directions for future research. Keywords: typography, corporate branding, visual rhetoric, semiotics, brand identity, qualitative research