Be Awesome: A Display Font That Brings Warmth and Personality to Real Branding Work
I opened a fresh brand board last week—blank, hopeful, and slightly intimidating—and dropped in the logo sketch for a local handmade ceramics studio. The client had described their vibe as “thoughtful, tactile, quietly joyful”—no loud slogans, no corporate polish. Just honesty, craft, and care. I knew right away that the typeface would carry as much weight as the illustrations. So I reached for Be Awesome.
It’s not flashy in the way some display fonts are—no sharp angles or exaggerated swashes—but it has this gentle confidence. Rounded terminals, soft curves, a subtle bounce in the lowercase ‘a’ and ‘e’, and just enough contrast to feel intentional without feeling stiff. It’s friendly but never childish, playful but never gimmicky. As a display font, Be Awesome doesn’t try to be everything—it leans into its role with clarity: headline maker, logo anchor, mood-setter.
I started small: testing it on the studio’s name in a clean lockup. No effects, no gradients—just Be Awesome in all caps, set at 48pt on a neutral cream background. Instant warmth. It didn’t shout; it smiled. That’s rare. Many display fonts either dominate or disappear depending on context, but Be Awesome held space—softly, consistently—whether on screen or printed at 1200dpi on a letterpress business card.
We used it across the full identity system: the logo mark (paired with a quiet, highly legible sans serif for body copy), packaging labels for clay-glaze samples, Instagram story banners, and even the chalkboard-style menu board mockup for their tiny retail corner. Each time, it behaved like a reliable collaborator—not demanding attention, but earning it through charm and restraint.
On packaging, Be Awesome shone brightest on matte-finish sticker labels. Its open counters and generous x-height kept text legible even at 16pt on a 2-inch square label. And because it’s designed as a display font—not meant for long paragraphs—it never strained against its purpose. I avoided using it for ingredient lists or care instructions (those went to a warm, humanist sans), but for “Hand-thrown in Portland” or “Small Batch • Fired Twice”, it added instant soul.
In editorial layouts—like the studio’s seasonal newsletter or printed lookbook—I used Be Awesome only for section headers and pull quotes. Its rhythm guides the eye without competing with photography or texture-heavy illustrations. One detail I appreciated: the lowercase ‘g’ and ‘y’ have just enough personality to feel hand-informed, but not so much that they distract. That balance matters when your audience is scrolling on mobile or flipping through a tactile zine.
For web use, I tested it in the hero section of their simple one-page site. With variable font support not built in, I stuck to the standard OTF files and served it as a webfont via a lightweight host. Load time stayed light, and rendering was crisp—even on older iPads. It worked beautifully as an H1, especially with modest letter-spacing (+20–30 units) and line-height tuned to let its curves breathe.
Pairing was intuitive. With a sturdy, low-contrast serif (think something like Merriweather or Adobe Garamond), Be Awesome felt grounded and timeless. Against a friendly geometric sans like Poppins or Inter, it gained modern energy—ideal for social media graphics or event posters. I avoided pairing it with other display or script fonts unless absolutely necessary; its voice is distinct enough to stand alone, and stacking too many expressive typefaces diluted the clarity the client wanted.
One thing I always check first with any new display font is the range of included styles. Be Awesome comes with a single weight—clean, confident, and consistent—but no bold or italic variants. That’s fine. In fact, it’s part of its strength. It’s not trying to replace a full type family; it’s offering one perfectly tuned voice. For branding work, that focus helps avoid visual noise. I used tracking adjustments and size shifts instead of weight changes to create hierarchy—smaller, tighter Be Awesome for subheads; larger, airier for logos.
Licensing was straightforward—commercial use included, no hidden restrictions. I confirmed multilingual support covered basic Latin characters (including accented vowels used in English, French, and Spanish), which covered the studio’s occasional bilingual workshop signage. No extended Cyrillic or Arabic glyphs, but that wasn’t needed here—and honestly, most small-brand projects don’t require them.
Before locking anything in, I printed three versions of the business card: one with Be Awesome for the name only, one using it for both name and tagline, and one where I swapped in a different display option. The first version won—every time. Why? Because Be Awesome gave the brand presence without pretense. It said “we’re proud of what we make” without saying “look at me.”
It also translated beautifully to merchandise. Embroidered on aprons? Soft but clear. Foil-stamped on matchboxes? Elegant and approachable. Screen-printed on tote bags? Bold enough to hold up at arm’s length, gentle enough to feel personal. That versatility—across surfaces, scales, and materials—is what makes Be Awesome more than just a pretty face. It’s a practical tool.
If you're choosing a display font for real work—not just mood boards or Pinterest pins—give Be Awesome space to do what it does best: elevate short-form text with sincerity, support handcrafted aesthetics without competing with them, and help a brand feel human before it feels branded. It won’t solve every typographic challenge, and it’s not built for body copy—but as a display font, it’s thoughtful, reliable, and quietly unforgettable.
Keep it for moments that matter: names, titles, invitations, signatures, labels, banners. Test it early—not just on white, but over textures, behind glass mockups, next to product photography, and on actual print proofs. See how it holds up when scaled down for a sticker or blown up for a shop sign. You’ll know fast whether it fits—not because it’s trendy, but because it feels like it belongs.
