How to Choose the Right Fonts?
So Many Choices
When creating a book or resume or even a greeting card, the font is a part of the creative choice. How do you choose which font to use for your resume? Do you go with the default or make a guess? Here are a few things to think about when making your choice.
Ascenders and Descenders
These are the parts of lower case letters that extend above (in ascenders) the x-height, or below (in descenders) the baseline of the type. Ascenders include b, d, f, l, and t. Descenders include q, p, g, and y. These are important to keep in mind because line spacing or “leading” keeps these apart for ease in reading, but when you want to get creative with lettering, you may want to decrease the leading. This means the ascenders and descenders could overlap and crash into each other, making it harder to read the text.
I have seen cases where this is exactly what you want. The most intriguing poster was created for people to understand what it was like for people with reading disabilities like dyslexia by decreasing the leading so all the text crowded each other. It was indeed difficult to read for a good reason.
“The moment where you doubt you can fly, you cease forever being able to do it.”— Peter Pan by J.M Barrie
Kerning and Tracking
Kerning is the term used for selective letter spacing. Certain letter combinations would work better if the spacing were less than other letters. AW is a letter combination that can be squeezed a little closer together without any loss of readability. Letters like "ili" can be closer together also. Letters like "aobq" and all similar round letters need their space to keep readability. Tracking is different from Kerning in that tracking is spacing in entire blocks of text rather than just certain letters. Tracking can be applied to all the text or selected portions to make it fit into a block better.
With the sample, I typed the headline with Cooper Std Black Font. In the second one, I typed the greater part of the words with Cooper Std Black Font but used Herculanum Regular for the capitals and &. Having two fonts helps with the Kerning. I can move them close together.
There are several things that most graphic designers are told not to do. These are not hard and fast rules never to be broken. However, it is wise to consider them.
- Don’t use too much drop shadow for long lines of text. The drop shadow will fill in the holes and curls of the letters and make the text more difficult to read.
- Don’t use too much stroke. For the same reason as the drop shadow, it is often overdone in the name of the artistic layout. But the larger the stroke, the more it fills in holes and curls in the letters and again, makes it more difficult for the audience to read.
- Don’t make vertical text. It seems artistic but again, most people have to struggle to read the vertical text. The rule of thumb should be that if it is a struggle for you to read it, you can be sure the average person won’t bother trying.
- Don’t overcrowd the leading (spaces between lines of text) and kerning or tracking (spaces between letters). When the spaces between letters and words are reduced too far, the ascenders (letters like b, d, f, and t) and descenders (letters like p, q, and y) begin to overlap and readability suffers.
- Don’t use more than 3 fonts on the same page or site. It starts to look crowded or haphazard when too many unrelated fonts are crowded together screaming for attention. This is only a suggestion. There are a few instances where 4 fonts are called for, but precious few. I would avoid it if possible.
- Don’t use Comic Sans. When my graphic design instructor said this I thought he was joking. But he failed anyone using Comic Sans in his class. The reason for this is because he said for the past 15 years Comic Sans has been overused. Perhaps in 15 to 20 years when it is avoided for a while, it will again come back into vogue. Since this is only a suggestion, I’m sure you may find just the place where this font is called for, but look at others first to see if something else may work better.
- Don’t disobey the rules of Hierarchy. This means the biggest words are the most important. They are usually at the top because they are meant to be read first. However, this rule can be broken when, as in advertising, the words like 50% OFF in the middle of a sentence are meant to be most important for the customer to know, making them bigger.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.— Arthur Ashe
What Does It Mean?
Having all that information still sends us back to “what are the best fonts to choose?” Sometimes I have the hardest time choosing a perfect font for a certain poster or headliner. It is a dilemma because there are so many to choose from. Do you want a feminine feel or a masculine feel? Do you want something looking official and corporate, or modern and easy-going? Do you want them to wear a 3-piece suit or a pair of jeans? It makes a difference in the message.
My rule of thumb is that Serif fonts (those with the feet like Times New Roman) are official and corporate and the San-Serif (without the feet like Helvetica) is modern and easy-going. The next rule of thumb is that italic and sweeping ascenders and descenders are feminine whereas the bold or standard fonts are more masculine.
Try to resist the really artsy fonts that look fun and flowery but are hard to read when you want something really legible. I’ve made that mistake before because I love the artsy fonts but I have to resist my creative side and make sure it is very readable.
“The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.”— Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Ronald Dahl
Finding and Loading Fonts
You can get many free Fonts to use at a variety of different sites. I like DaFont. Once I have downloaded a font that I love, I have to first load it into Photoshop or any of my other programs to use it.
In my Mac, I have a Font Book under Applications that will allow all my programs from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to Microsoft Word to use the same fonts. I go to Applications and find Font Book. Double-clicking will open the Font Book and I can then drag and drop the new font directly into the Font Book. It can then be used in Photoshop and all my other programs.
It can be very challenging to choose just the right font for messages for cards or letters or resumes. I hope this was a little bit of help in making a decision. If you have suggestions or thoughts on the subject, please feel free to leave it in the comments below.