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Home , Antiqua (typeface class), Bookman (typeface), Pitch (typewriter), Serif

GEN0002

Effective use of

Styles There are 2 main families of : - Book Century Schoolbook The little ‘feet’ Old Style on the base of letters are called serifs Tahoma Sans Serif Verdana Comic Sans MS Sans serif Pitch means ‘without feet’ The width of a character is known as its Pitch. With a Fixed Pitch v Proportional Fixed Pitch font, such as New, every is Fixed Pitch v Proportional exactly the same width, so an ‘i’ takes up the same amount of space as a ‘w’. With a Proportional font, such as Times New Roman, the width of each letter is proportional to its shape, so an ‘i’ is narrower than a ‘w’.

Size

Font size is measured in Points.

72 points = 1 inch (2.54cm).

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 24 36 48 72 Readability v

Readability refers to how easy it is to read a lot of text. A proportional, serif typeface at 10- 14 points is the most readable. Avoid setting large amounts of text in Bold, Italics, CAPS, , etc. Small amounts of these are OK when necessary. We read groups of words, so avoid very long and very short lines of text – split long lines into columns if necessary.

Legibility refers to how easy it is to recognise short bursts of text, such as headlines, posters, signs, etc. Sans serif are easier to read, particularly at bigger sizes. Avoid setting types in . Also avoid typefaces such as Antique Olive, where the ascenders are hardly bigger than the bodies. That feature makes it difficult to tell ‘h’ from ‘n’ or ‘i’. Avoid faces like Hobo that have no in p, , , or other letters that should have them. Avoid faces which mix capital and lowercase letters together.

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