A Comparative Study of Four Typographic Treatments in Coffee Shop Brand Visual Perception

Typeface is an integral component of visual identity that communicates verbal information while contributing to the visual character through which a brand is perceived. This study compares audience responses to four specific typographic treatments in the fictional coffee shop brand Titik Temu, rather than treating Serif, Sans Serif, Script, and Decorative as universally representative categories. A quantitative comparative approach with a repeated measures within subject design was employed. The stimuli used Sabon, Work Sans, Authentic Harmony, and Nusantara Font for the Serif, Sans Serif, Script, and Decorative treatments, respectively. The brand name, coffee shop concept, color palette, and major visual structure were maintained relatively consistently across stimuli applied to a logo and Instagram feed. Data were collected from 104 respondents using a five-point Likert questionnaire covering six exploratory perceptual attributes: modern, premium, cozy, professional, friendly, and aesthetic. Each stimulus was assessed using 12 items. Internal consistency was high, with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .950 to .980 and corrected item total correlations from .606 to .936. An aggregate evaluative score was calculated as the mean of the 12 exploratory items for each stimulus. These scores differed significantly across the four stimuli, χ2 (3) = 39.721, p < .001, with Kendall’s W= .127. The Sabon based Serif treatment obtained the highest aggregate evaluative score (M= 4.005), followed by Work Sans based Sans Serif (M= 3.810), Authentic Harmony based Script (M= 3.733), and Nusantara Font based Decorative (M= 3.341). The findings indicate stimulus specific differences rather than universal superiority of any typeface category.