Font families can sell for hundreds of dollars. Gotham, a popular typeface used by President Barack Obama’s campaign and many others, costs nearly $1,000 to license a complete set of 66 ...

In the early 1990s, a new teriyaki sauce reached New York supermarkets with a distinctive label. In faux-Hebrew font, the name “Soy Vay — Veri Veri Teriyaki” was spelled out.

A few months ago a rare thing happened: typography hit the headlines. It shouldn't be so surprising, because the power of fonts to convey clarity and "voice" to words is enormous.