Tip on using the right fonts for your document

JAKARTA (JP): At a recent seminar, one of the speakers had his entire paper printed out in a fancy font called Penguin-Light. He, or whoever else that had printed the document for him, must have expected that the audience would love it. In fact, most of them skipped reading it and chose to just listen to his presentation. His paper was difficult to read because of the font.

Fonts, or collections of typefaces (these two terms are not interchangeable, although a lot of people confuse them), have their own characteristics. Fancy fonts such as Penguin-Light and Brush Script are suitable for banners and logos. Using any of them for the body of text will do a disservice, since the shape of the characters will detract the reader from the contents or the message.

So, use the so-called serif fonts, such as Times, NewCentu rySchlbk, and NewBrunswick, for the body of your text, as these fonts have their "arms and legs" that lead the reader's eyes from one character to another effortlessly. Use at least the 10 point size; in fact, I always prefer the 12 point size for my docu ments.

Use the sans serif fonts, such as Helvetica and USA Black, for headlines and very small prints. Fonts such as Helvetica are still highly legible even in its very small size of 6 point, so it is very suitable for use in tables and worksheets.

Finally, don't mix too many fonts in one document. The adage "Less is more", which applies in architecture, also applies in DTP. The key is consistency. Use the same fonts and character attributes consistently throughout your document.

-- Zatni Arbi