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Archiver > TMG > 2000-05 > 0957230495


From: "Mills" <>
Subject: [TMG-L:] TMG-L: Re: Font-handling & Typography
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 20:21:35 -0500
References: <3902069B.7C595110@epix.net> <4.1.20000423183814.009619e0@pop.mis.net> <390453DB.B70ADF18@epix.net> <000a01bfae2b$167a3e00$4a6130c1@in2p3.fr> <012401bfb0fd$5432e7e0$caa15ac2@1> <004601bfb12b$8e842c00$1da70218@mrdn1.ct.home.com> <010e01bfb2fc$1dba13e0$c9a15ac2@1> <00f801bfb308$8ca07720$1660f7a5@lautman> <390D7E4F.6B970164@epix.net> <390DAC62.B35F8EF9@uswest.net> <390DE65F.12BC7A73@epix.net>


Ken, John, and Christopher have all offered superb posts on this subject.
But Jeffrey mentioned two germane points that haven't been addressed:

(1)
> I checked a few more annual reports [i.e., the type of source in which he
first noted a preference for Arial or a similar sans-serif font].

I'm not surprised that Jeffrey found serif used for body text in annual
reports. As Jeanne L. McClaran and Judy Stopke put it in Do's & Don'ts of
Desktop Publishing Design, 2d ed. (Ann Arbor: Promotional Perspectives), p.
14, a sans serif font, used for the text-body, is "institutional-looking."
For financial reports, then, Arial, Helvetica, and their kin can be quite
appropriate.

However, without exception, in every guide to typography and "desktop
publishing" that I've ever seen, as Ken, John, and Chris have amply noted,
just about the *first* guideline given is to use serif fonts for the body
and sans-serif for the headlines or subheads.

(2)
> What you might be indicating is that the convention of serif was due to
> printing methods of the past, and because of limitations serif was
> deemed more readable. That does not mean it is that way for all
> printing methods of today.

No, the rules haven't changed on this point. PageMaker is considered the
leading page-design/layout software in today's market. 6.5 is its latest
version. Its Getting Started manual by Robin Williams and Jay Conrad
Levinson (of Guerrilla Marketing fame), p. 60, advises: "For best
readability, avoid using a sans serif for the body copy. Try a classic
oldstyle serif face (such as Garamond, Jensenson, Caslon, Minion, or
Palatino), or a lightweight slab serif (such as Clarendon, Bookman, Kepler,
or New Century Schoolbook)." Williams and Levinson also point out that a
serif font, used alone, can look drab, but using a sans serif for headlines
and subheads is a wonderful way to add contrast and "color" (meaning bolder
blacks against the delicately chiseled serifs. (Just don't try to mix two
serifs or two sans-serif for that contrast if you aren't a trained
designer!)

Elizabeth Shown Mills





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