Finding a Go-To Font: A Designer's Take on Nanny
Opening a new blank brand board is one of those moments in a designer’s workday that’s equal parts exciting and daunting. You have a color palette sketched out, a mood board pinned, and a rough idea of the visual direction, but the typography choice often feels like the final puzzle piece that brings everything to life. Recently, I was working on a visual identity for a new small-batch skincare brand. The client wanted something that felt personal, handcrafted, and trustworthy—not sterile or overly corporate. My usual sans-serif staples felt too clinical, and more formal scripts seemed too fussy. That’s when I started testing Nanny.
The Immediate Handwritten Impression
First impressions with fonts are crucial. You drop them onto a logo draft or a packaging mockup, and you immediately get a sense of personality. Nanny landed on my screen with a distinctly cool and casual vibe. It’s a handwritten font, but it doesn’t scream "calligraphy" or try too hard. The letterforms have a natural, slightly uneven flow—like someone wrote them with a confident, relaxed hand rather than a meticulous pen. It possesses a friendly warmth without being childish, and a professional clarity without being rigid. This was exactly the middle ground I was searching for: approachable yet credible.
I began by placing it as a potential logotype. The brand name was relatively short, which is ideal for a script font like this. Nanny’s characters connected in a gentle, organic way, creating a cohesive wordmark that felt unique but not illegible. The slightly open, airy spacing between letters meant it didn’t feel cramped on a small product label. This readability at smaller sizes is a practical win for any branding project that extends to physical packaging.
Building Out the Brand System
Once the logotype felt right, the real test began: how does Nanny function across an entire brand system? A single great logo font is wonderful, but a truly useful typeface needs to play well in various roles.
For this skincare project, I used Nanny primarily as a display font. It became the hero typeface for the logo, the main headlines on the website, and the prominent text on product packaging and labels. On a mockup of a serum bottle, the font’s casual elegance made the product feel special and lovingly made. On a business card, it created an immediate, memorable impression. I also experimented with it on social media graphics and poster designs. In these contexts, its handwritten style added a human touch that can be missing from purely geometric typefaces, fostering a sense of direct engagement with the audience.
However, for longer body text—like product descriptions on a website or informational leaflets—I paired it with a simple, clean sans-serif font. This is a key practical step. Nanny, being a script font, excels in short-form applications where its personality shines. Using it sparingly, as an accent, maintains its charm and prevents overwhelming the viewer. The pairing created a clear visual hierarchy: the friendly, distinctive voice of Nanny for key messages, supported by the unobtrusive readability of the sans-serif for details.
Practical Observations from Mockups to Materials
Testing a font in real scenarios is the only way to know if it’ll work. Here are a few observations from applying Nanny across different mediums:
- Digital Presence: In the website’s hero section, the font added warmth and instantly set a tone. It rendered cleanly on screen, and the casual style felt contemporary without being trendy.
- Print Applications: On a printed flyer and a small shop sign mockup, the typeface held its character. It didn’t become blurry or lose its definition at reasonable sizes, which is essential for commercial print work.
- Small-Scale Readability: On a product label sticker, perhaps the most crucial test, the font remained legible. This is where many handwritten fonts fail, but Nanny’s balanced weight and clear letterforms passed.
A significant advantage for client work is its versatility across crafts and digital design. The brief mentioned crafts, presentations, and greeting cards—this isn’t just marketing talk. For this brand, we extended the identity to include simple thank-you cards and packaging inserts. Nanny worked seamlessly in these crafted, tangible items, reinforcing the hand-made brand story.
Advice for Testing and Implementation
If you’re considering Nanny for a branding project, my advice is to start with a strict, limited application. Use it for the logo or a key headline first. See how it feels. Then, gradually test it in other display contexts: social media post headers, poster titles, packaging highlights. Pay close attention to how it interacts with your other chosen elements, like colors and imagery.
Always check the technical details. For a commercial project, ensure the licensing covers your intended use. Look for included features like alternates or ligatures, which can add subtle customization to your logotype. While Nanny presents as a single, cohesive style, its strength is in that consistent personality—it doesn’t need multiple weights to be effective. It works because it is confident in its single, well-defined voice.
The Personality That Makes It a Go-To
What ultimately makes a font like Nanny stick in a designer’s toolkit is its reliable personality. In the crowded field of script fonts, many lean too far into being overly decorative or trying to mimic a specific, outdated hand-writing style. Nanny avoids those pitfalls. It feels modern and fresh because its casualness is authentic. It doesn’t look like it was trying to be a font; it looks like it was trying to be clear, friendly communication.
For the skincare brand, this personality translated directly into brand perception. The font helped the visual identity communicate "carefully made by people" rather than "mass-produced by a factory." It supported consistency across touchpoints because wherever it appeared—from the website to the bottle label—it delivered the same emotional cue. That consistency builds recognition and trust with an audience.
For designers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs working on projects that require a human touch—be it a local café, a creative studio, a boutique, or any product-based business—a font with this balance is a valuable asset. It’s a premium font that doesn’t feel pretentious, a creative font that remains practical.
In my project, Nanny moved from a test candidate on a blank board to the central typographic voice of a full brand identity. It proved its potential as a go-to font, not just for one niche, but for any branding work where warmth, authenticity, and a slight offbeat charm are part of the story. Its cool and casual handwriting became the confident, professional hand that signed off on every piece of the design.
