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When you are designing your leaflets, banners, CD covers, posters etc., its
very important to choose the right typeface for your document for several
reasons:
Readability
The typeface must be legible, and some are better suited to helping the
reader consume long passages of text, whereas others are best for documents
that need to be skimmed and browsed.
Medium
Some recent fonts are designed primarily for screen-use, whereas many
others will be better suited for printing at the high-resolution of your OKI
printer.
Context
Your choice of typeface can significantly improve or damage how well the
content of your document is communicated. If you think of your text as the
script - the font is the actor. Certain typefaces are more appropriate, and
will deliver the lines with more conviction - they will help your readers to
absorb your message easily.
What to Remember when Designing your document
Mixing Fonts - what works best?
It is usually best to use as few fonts as possible. The more you use,
the harder it becomes to create a good-looking document.
In a typical document, you would use one font for the headings. A sans-serif
is often a good choice, because it is accessible, easy to skim and read
at-a-glance. This font could also be used for other parts of the page that
are designed to be read quickly - captions or contents lists. Often the
subhead will just be the same typeface as a main heading, but at a smaller
size. You would then use a second font for the body copy. A serif is a good
choice here, because it is comfortable to read in long passages.
Although with some work, any font can be combined with any other, as a
general guide:
For a standard document, a Humanist sans serif for headings will work well
with either an Old-style or Transitional serif font. For media will little
text, such as signs, Geometric combines well with Modern serifs and
Grotesque combines well with Slab-serifs.
Above all, to ensure readability and consistency, try to keep font changes
to a minimum. |
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Serif typefaces have hooks, feet on the ends of characters. These
help lead the eye from one letter to the next, to form whole words. Serif
faces are considered very readable, especially for long passages of text.
These fonts are considered more formal and serious than sans-serif, and used
to give long documents weight and professionalism.
Times New Roman is a common choice of serif font - but its frequent use may
mean your document loses a certain amount of distinctiveness. |
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Sans-serif typefaces, without the hooks, are newer. They are starker
in appearance. These are better suited to documents that are intended to be
skimmed or browsed, and are also very readable on screen. These fonts are
generally considered crisper, bolder, and more informal than serif faces -
and are frequently used in marketing documents.
Arial is a common choice of sans-serif font - but this is used very
frequently, and wont help to distinguish your documents. Verdana is a
recent popular choice, but is designed for legibility at small sizes on
screen - and is not suited to printed documents.
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Make good use of different
font weights.
Avoid text rivers with careful use of justification options.
Avoid hypenation as much as possible.
Always get someone who did not write the copy to check for mistakes.
Remember, spell checkers only catch about 90% of the mistakes.
Above all, to ensure readability and consistency, try to keep font changes
to a minimum. |
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