Sony’s Logo Font Is Just as Stunning as the Brand’s Electronic Goods
Sony Group Corporation, commonly known as Sony and often stylized as SONY, is a Japanese technological conglomerate corporation that mainly manufactures electronic products.
The company was founded on May 7, 1946, in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. It’s presently headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo – Japan.
Besides consumer and professional electronic goods, Sony also manufactures video game consoles. In fact, the company is the world’s largest video game console manufacturer and video game publisher.
Sony Group Corporation also owns Sony Entertainment Inc., one of the world’s largest music companies. Sony Entertainment Inc. is currently ranked the largest music publisher, second-largest record label, and third-largest film studio in the world.
Sony is also the largest premium TV market shareholder in the world. Other technological products manufactured by the company include image sensors, robots, semiconductors, and digital cameras.
Sony Font
Sony uses a font known as SST on its official logo and branding materials.
SST is a humanist sans-serif typeface. The font was custom-made for Sony by renowned font foundry Monotype Imaging. It was released in 2013.
SST supports numerous alphabets, including Greek, Latin, and Cyrillic. It also comes with matching styles for various other languages, such as Japanese, Thai, Arabic, and Hebrew. The font was styled after the popular Helvetica and Frutiger.
Before adopting SST, Sony previously used the Helvetica typeface in its branding materials. SST is currently the primary font on Sony’s product packaging, web design, and operating instructions. The font is also used on the menus of televisions by the company as well as in various smartphones and play stations, including the Xperia and PlayStation 4, respectively.
Having been designed exclusively for Sony Group Corporation, it makes sense why many websites require a special license before you can download the SST typeface. Fortunately, there are numerous fonts similar to SST, such as Clarendon.
Clarendon is a slab-serif typeface that’s more than a century old. The font was released in 1845 by the letter foundry Thorowgood and Co. of London, also known as Thorowgood and Besley of London.
The original Clarendon design is attributed to Robert Besley. However, the font has undergone tremendous evolution over the years. Its current version is similar to the SST font used on Sony logos.
Clarendon typefaces are noted for their bold, solid structure. The structures usually come with bracketed serifs, which tend to enlarge as they approach the letter’s main stroke.
Where to Download Sony Fonts
Sony’s SST font can be downloaded on the CuFon Fonts website. The font is available on several other websites, including All Fonts and Fonts Hub.
Note that since the SST typeface was created specifically for Sony, you may be barred from using the font on commercial projects without a special license from the publisher. So, be sure to read the download instructions carefully, regardless of the website you intend to download it from.
If you’d prefer SST alternatives like Clarendon, the DaFont Free and Font in Logo websites are a great place to check these fonts out.