Am I getting old, or do people make weird font choices?
With typography a variety of things can go wrong. You can select the wrong font, make typographical errors, and not take advantage of special characters that are now available on your computer.
However, the worst offense you can do is to select a hard to read font or make an inappropriate font choice for your piece.
Any mistake with these also creates a negative impression of you and your company. It can give the impression that you are unprofessional and don’t care about details. Your typography choice should be a reflection of you and sets the tone for your piece.
Common typography mistakes to avoid:
- Limit your font selection to 2-3 different fonts per page. There are literally thousands of fonts that can be used. You don’t need to use them all! Using too many different fonts increases the clutter and chaos to the page.
- Don’t use display or very decorative fonts in small sizes. These are meant to be used sparingly and in big type sizes.
- Limit small and all caps to one sentence. You don’t want to use small caps or all caps for type that is a few lines long. You need to keep these short. It would be too difficult to read if it’s a few lines long.
- Never space out words that are in sentence case. It rarely looks good. Small and all caps are more appropriate for this.
- Always keep in mind the tone you are setting for the piece and choose your fonts accordingly. You don’t want a girly font for a macho magazine…
C O N C L U S I O N
The goal of any layout is for it to be read.
You want to make it as easy as possible for your audience to read your piece. You don’t want to overwhelm them nor give them the impression that it’s going to involve a lot of work to read through your piece.
The wrong font choice is an immediate turn off for your audience. Making typography mistakes decrease legibility and increases the possibility of losing your audience. That’s the last thing you want!
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