There’s no bigger decision you make in designing a book than picking the body typeface. A book by its nature is a long reading experience, and as book publishers we want our books to be as easy to read as possible while communicating the author’s intent. Style and fashion also play their part in many book designs, particularly in popular niches. The accumulated expectations of 500 years of book readers also come into play. Books are pretty conventional objects, after all.
Some fonts really lend themselves to book design while others, which look good in a brochure or on a business card or billboard, make odd, unreadable books. Any idiosyncrasy in the type design will be magnified by the repetition of typesetting 75,000 or 100,000 words in thousands of lines on hundreds of pages.
So the choice of your basic typeface looms large when you sit down to design your book. Here are five typefaces that have become favorites and which will almost always look great in your books too. You’ll find links to the vendor of the fonts as well.
- Garamond – Named after the famed 16th-century French “punch-cutter” or type designer Claude Garamond, many versions of this old style face exist. The one used most frequently now is the version designed by Robert Slimbach for Adobe. It’s known for its graceful, flowing style and humanistic elegance. Here’s a sample:
- Janson – Designed by the Hungarian Nicholas Kis in the 17th century, the design was mistakenly attributed to the Dutch printer Anton Janson. It is a strong and elegant face with marked contrast between thin and thick strokes, and may be the most popular text face for fine bookmaking. Here’s a sample:
- Bembo – Bembo, another old style typeface, was based upon a design by Francesco Griffo, who worked for famed early printer and publisher Aldus Manutius in Venice in the 15th and early 16th century. It was a clear attempt to bring the humanist script of the finest scribes of the day to the printed page, and served as the chief inspiration to Claude Garamond, among others. Bembo has a classic beauty and readability that are unmatched.
- Caslon – One of the most popular text typefaces of the 18th and 19th centuries, Caslon was designed by William Caslon in England in the early 18th century. An old-style face modeled on early Dutch originals, Caslon has an appealing irregularity and creates a distinctive texture on the page. Many people recognize Caslon from its extensive use in textbooks. Here’s a sample:
- Electra – A 1935 design by the prolific type designer D.W. Dwiggins, Electra creates a distinctive “color” and evenness on a printed page. It’s inventor said he wanted Electra to excel at setting down warm human ideas, to endow it with a warmth of blood and personality. Here’s a sample:
Get Electra here
Although it would be easy to fill a book with samples of great text typefaces, it’s also true that many professional book designers could, if necessary, limit themselves to just these five fonts and continue to create great—and greatly varied—book designs, for years to come.
So when it comes time to select the typeface for your next book, choose one of these five and rest assured that you have made a great selection.
Those are my favorites. What about yours?
{ 144 comments… read them below or add one }
Garamond! Love Garamond. So much so that I’m using it as the font for the new blog.
Yes, Garamond definitely has an elegance that’s hard to beat. Will check out your new design.
My list of five would be Sabon, Scala, a new one I’m dying to use: Calluna, Minion, and Stone Serif. Runner-up: Chapparal.
@Stephen, interesting list. I used Sabon frequently years ago, don’t know Scala, and have done several books in Minion although I seem to have gone off it in recent years. I would have bet that most designers would have one of these 5 on their “favorites” list and, once again, I would have been wrong. Thanks for your input.
Hey Joel! Thanks for directing me to this post! I have just started to realize that book designers have rabid “font” likes and dislikes– I actually saw a guy wearing a shirt that said “Helvetica”—that’s dedication! I re-tweeted!
Thanks for stopping by, Christy. Oh yeah, don’t get us designers talking fonts, it just goes on and on… LoL Thanks for the tweet.
Interesting–to me–that I clearly favor Old Style (Garalde) types for text. ANd I still like Futura and Avant Garde a lot for display, tho’ I’ve used that old saw, Gill Sans, some recently.
@Stephen, interesting. I was using Frutiger for several years for heads, lots of marvelous variations in the family, but just this year I’ve started going back to Futura. I wore out on Avant Garde around the same time I OD’d on Souvenir. But Gill, yeah, I could use that. The last two books I’ve done were in Janson, both chosen by clients. It was used in one of Obama’s books, and my client asked me to sample it for him.
Thanks for stopping by!
Kepler, hands down.
Hmmm … Just looked at Kepler on Linotype’s site. I don’t like the thick strokes in the roman fonts. Somehow they look as if they don’t balance with the thi strokes. Anyone else notice this?
@Karlene, thanks for that. Kepler’s a new one to me. @Stephen, I saw the variation as an interesting color variation. Although the samples look interesting, it’s hard to tell what it would look like set in a block of text. But I’m glad to know about Kepler and will keep an eye out for a use. Karlene, do you use it in book work, or as display?
Warnock Pro: it have all cuttings pro typographer might want to use, from display to captions and subheads. Also lights, semibolds and so on. I like this kind of pro fonts, they bring together all the languages and glyphs possible and also all typographic finesses we can found on metal cutted fonts from printing golden era. So far away from scanned and scaled Times (witch is not bad font either).
I liked very much you top 5: many good ideas, thank you. If only they include all needed glyphs for me — in that account many font sites are misaligned and incorrect (Im estonian and working also with swedish and latvian periodicals).
And remember, its not about what font you use, its always how you use it.
I’m attracted to Warnock Pro for some of the same reasons Andres mentions above. I haven’t used it yet, so I can’t properly say it’s a favorite, tho’ I am about to begin a book interior with it, if UPS delivers a package from my client tonight.
@Andres, thanks for your comment! Warnock pro has tremendous character and flexibility, another winner from Robert Slimbach. But I’ve never thought of using it in books. Do you do book typography? To me it’s much more suitable to advertising or collateral materials, more stylized than the typical book fonts like these 5, from my perspective.
@Stephen, what made you choose Warnock Pro, is it something to do with the book you’re working on (assuming the package arrived)?
Well, Joel, I had to do the cover of this book months ago, so that it would be ready for the client’s new catalog. And for that I quickly decided to use a type with an eastern flair, Tiger Rag, for the main title. For the subtitle, then, I wanted a strong serif font, but not so overpoweringly strong as to overpower my eastern font.
I’ve liked the solid x-height of Warnock Pro for some time now, and the proportion of x-height to the overall size of the characters (that is, x-height plus ascender) really seems to work with the same in the Tiger Rag main title.
Once I’d decided on the Warnock Pro family for the cover (subtitle and author’s name)–and it won a super-quick approval for the cover from my client, a university press–it was easy for me to decide to use it for the book’s interior pages.
P.S. And, no, the UPS did not deliver package on Wednesday (which should have meant Tuesday delivery), although the client paid for two-day service. It’s not as if the package was stuck somewhere prior to the New York part of the journey. It reached Farmingville–20-25 minutes away from me on Tuesday.
I can’t imagine what the alleged emergency was, as I was able to use the roads to get to my day job both Monday and Tuesday. neeless to say, losing two production days guarantes I’ll be workng Christmas Day. And I am m ost annoyed. Still. That’s assuming they finally deliver today.
Hey Steve, I’m really curious now about Warnock Pro. Is your project a book with large type or a lot of leading? I can see it easily on the subtitle and author name, still can’t imagine lots of it on a page. Not to add to your workload but I wonder whether, once you’ve started laying out the book, if you could show me a page.
Hope you get your delivery, don’t want to think of you working on Christmas if you don’t want to!
Will do, Joel. It’s a WWII biography-history sort of thing. Pacific campaign vs. the Japanese. My sample pages are at 11/15. Kind of airy. I’ll let you have a look when I have some real copy down. The package arrived, but I haven’t gotten toi t yet. I’m sworn off working tonight.
Comic Sans is a personal favourite of mine…
Me too! No one else seems to have heard of it! I use it all the time. Maybe it’s a WA thing?
Comic sans has received a lot of bad press. It looks perfectly good in . . . comics!
I used to use Comic Sans in a number of posters – I wanted a fun, energetic approach to the information I was conveying. I never used Comic Sans as a Title because it lacks boldness. I was told that Comic Sans was terrible to read. But the real test was to see in print…..no-one uses it, except in “block-capitals” in cartoons now everyone knows – block capitals are very non-readable, unless you’re trying to make a particular point. The way I look at it is that if books printed by regular publishers don’t have it, it must be that we’re missing something…..they’re selling 10 000 copies a time, and people are buying them….they must know what they’re doing (they seem to make money off it). The first book I printed, I actually copied an existing publisher’s font-face, and I asked them permission, and they said that I could only use it, if it was clear that it wasn’t produced by that publisher – I changed the typeface because it was similar, but its a very readable, clear font. printing large amounts of text on a page and getting people to glance at it is a good way of judging if its good to use. Thats what I do.
I used to use Comic Sans in a number of posters – I wanted a fun, energetic approach to the information I was conveying. I never used Comic Sans as a Title because it lacks boldness. I was told that Comic Sans was terrible to read. But the real test was to see in print…..no-one uses it, except in “block-capitals” in cartoons now everyone knows – block capitals are very non-readable, unless you’re trying to make a particular point. The way I look at it is that if books printed by regular publishers don’t have it, it must be that we’re missing something…..they’re selling 10 000 copies a time, and people are buying them….they must know what they’re doing (they seem to make money off it). The first book I printed, I actually copied an existing publisher’s font-face, and I asked them permission, and they said that I could only use it, if it was clear that it wasn’t produced by that publisher – I changed the typeface because it was similar, but its a very readable, clear font. printing large amounts of text on a page and getting people to glance at it is a good way of judging if its good to use. That’s what I do.
Hi Joel,
I am a newcomer to the domain of book design and typography. To an outsider without any formal training in design, all the business of font selection and laying out of text looks like some black magic. But I really liked your article and the discussion going on in comments after that since it gives some ideas about what to look at when going through this.
Can you suggest some readings for somebody who is not intending to train as a designer but wants to appreciate the art of typesetting? I have laid my hands on “The Elements of Typographic Style” but feel like I am not ready for it yet.
Thanks for the nice blog
Abhaya
Well, I was moved to have a say of my own regarding the choosing of type for designing books on my own blog at http://tianobookdesign.com/blog/?p=120
Looking over your font choices again, Joel, I am surprised that I am just thinking to say now that I notice four of your five are in the Old Style (Garalde) classification. As I’ve noted before, that’s where I lean. Thing is, the fifth, Electra, a type in the Modern classification looks pretty nice. Then I catch the high contrast between thick and thin strokes and I’m reminded why I don’t care for Transitional or Modern typefaces.
Abhaya, welcome to the fraternity of typographers. DId Joel teach you the secret handshake yet?
Abhaya, thanks for your comment. Book design was a real specialty for a long time, so most of the books written on it were for other book designers and typographers. You might look at The Non Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams for an introduction, then explore more from there.
Stephen, I’m glad you noticed. Yes, I really prefer oldstyle faces for book work, and I like to pair them with contrasty sans or semi-serif faces for display. Not always, but it’s my tendency. I talked about this in my more recent post on 3 Great Typeface Combinations You Can Use in Your Book.
Electra, used properly, is a face of amazing sophistication. I’ve used it principally for novels or “literary” work. It’s sweet, you should try it!
Ah, the secret handshake. It’s not just pi in the sky.
I got asked a question I’d never even given any thought to the other day, someone asked if printed book interiors always have to be set in serif fonts? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book with sans-serif interior text, but is it a hard and fast rule? I certainly find sans-serif easier to read on screens, so I can see it as a choice for e-readers, but paper & ink may be a different matter.
A lot depends on where you are. I’ve read repeatedly that Europe uses a lot of sans serif fonts for body text. Particularly continental Europe. In the U.S. publishers tend to stick to serif fonts. No idea what the standards are in, say Australia.
The projects on my own site are purely hobbyist work and I’m pretty much learning as I go, but I’ve used both serif and sans serif for novel-length works. For paid commissions I think I’ve used both as well. Although those have been non-fiction.
Victor, I’ve heard that studies show that reading long stretches of sans serif type in print tires the eyes. The serifs actually serve to lead the reader thru a line of type. That said, I’ve lately (over the past few years) noticed a number of printed books using sans serif for main body text. Interestingly, most of the books were books related to the subject of design. All in all, I continue to use serif types for book interiors, although I still think I’d like to try what I call a “near serif,” Optima, for the right interior.
I’d be curious, have you thought of using a sans for interior pages?
Not personally, I was proof reading a short story and it took me a couple of paragraphs to notice he’d used Lucida Sans Unicode instead of a fixed width font for the print out. It actually looks quite good, but I can see how serifs would guide the eye along the line better, sort of a tunnel effect. He’s not a fan of serif fonts, he thinks they all look too similar. I guess he could get Lulu to knock a copy out once he’s done and see how it stands up to reading.
It’s tough enough selling books; more so, for self-published books. I see no reason to potentially antagonize readers with typefaces that are trying on the eyes. (There’s a book by an author Wheidon, I think, that does some research on sans vs. serifs.) I think a designer who puts his or her own sense of making an “interesting-looking” book, above what serves readers is not really doing the job the client hired for.
Hey Victor, good question. Like Stephen, I’ve seen a number of books done in sans serif fonts, but they are mostly art books. Typically there is not a great deal of running text. When set in isolated blocks there’s nothing wrong with sans serif, it’s just when you get to long documents that they are problematic to my eye anyway. After all, there are many many examples of annual reports, brochures, and other types of printed material that use sans serif fonts with no trouble.
There are a lot of fonts that have come out over the last couple of years that are “transitional” in the sense that they are modeled on oldstyle fonts and have the canted axis and varying stress in the stroke weights, but only “swell” at the terminals instead of using serifs. I don’t consider Optima a good candidate for this kind of work because I’ve seen it used for long text and I find it unappealing, but some of these new fonts might be pretty interesting to try. Thanks to both of you for the interesting conversation.
@Joel, good points. It can be used for interior, but needs lot more expertise to make it look good and also to be readable. I have seen a lot of epic failures, but also some good uses in regular novels. But those good uses are always linked somehow to book theme and content. Fantasy novel can more easily be set in sans serif, but not history book or classic novel.
Personally using ITC Officina sans for one series of poetry and short stories books. But for lenghty texts it seems less usable, overall color of page tends to became too dark. Readability is quite good, and not so confusing to reader as say Helvetica.
Andres, thanks for your comment. I use ITC Officina in both the sans and the serif versions, very utilitarian fonts, they look particularly good in small sizes, although I just had to pull Officina Sans from a job I was doing because my client really hated the ampersand. Oh well. Thanks for stopping by.
Anyone tried Adobe’s Arno or Garamond Premier? Two more gems from Robert Slimbach and cousins of those on your list, Joel. I was quite pleased with the results I got with Arno.
I just found Arno a few months ago, what a terrific typeface. I used it on a photography book that’s on press now, but I’m still getting used to it. Typographers have an odd and oddly intimate relationship with typefaces and I find it takes a while to get comfortable with a new font, get to know it’s quirks. Not familiar with Garamond Premier, although I’ve done many books in Adobe Garamond and Garamond Pro. It’s one of the most readable and malleable faces I use, and it’s pretty space efficient as well. Thanks Kevin!
I’d used Garamond for years–it was the first the first serif font I purchased and added to my Mac’s resident fonts back in 1989–Futura was the first sans, purchased at the same time. I used the hell out of it on all sorts of things–this was before I was designing books. I received Garamond Premier Pro as a gift from Adobe for, I think, buying CS2 a few years baack. I used that a little too often, too. So, yes, I’ve been crazy about Adobe Garamond Premier Pro.
As for Arno Pro, I used it on a straight layout project–it had been picked by the client (a chem book I believe it was). But I just go thru the first pass of a 1,000+-page novel I also did the design on. It has a perfect structure for being readable and usable in a lot of different ways on this novel’s many different elements (along with Scala Pro Sans). Plus Arno’s slightly compact and kept the novel from burgeoning way over the 1,000 pages.
Altogether two of my favorites right now, even tho’ I’m determined to lay off the Garamond for a while yet, I’ve been there and done that a number of times alredy over the years.
Stephen, as I recall you are a real Garamond fan, and why not? Have you ever tried Granjon or Sabon? Granjon is the Linotype version of Garamond, but it sets a bit differently.
No to Granjon. Yet. But Sabon was on my original list up above somewhere. I’ve used it on a coupla books. I went thru a period where, like with Garamond (whether ITC at first, then Adobe Pro, and finally Adobe Premier Pro), it would be the first thing I’d think of for each new project until I pulled myself away from it.
Like with Arno Pro, Robert Slimbach created optical weights for Garamond Premier Pro. The letterforms start out fairly heavy and loosely kerned at the caption sizes and gradually become lighter and more tightly kerned up through text sizes, subhead sizes and display sizes, creating a sense of optical balance and evenness from one size to another. In an age of digital type design it seems reasonable to go to that much trouble to get your type right. That the master punch cutters like Garamond and Granjon perceived the need for optical sizes then cut them in metal just boggles the mind!
As he was finishing up Adobe Garamond in 1989 the literature describes Slimbach envisioning a whole new reinterpretation of Garamond that years later would become Garamond Premier. It would be interesting to know if that reinterpretation went beyond parsing the typeface into optical variations.
Thanks for this! I find many people don’t pay any attention to fonts at all, which is why the use of the hated times new roman and much loathed ariel are so widespread – no one bothers to change the defaults.
You have introduced me to 4 new fonts here, which I shall go seeking. I stumbled upon garamond by reading the frontspiece in an old novel. UK publishers used to always list the font.
For my novel, I used 3 typefaces, each for a different reason. It made formatting hell, but well worth the result.
1 – for general text, I used Bookman Old Style for its friendliness and easiness on the eyes.
2 – for news items, I used Courier New, which is used by broadcast wire services.
3 – for start of chapter quotes, I used Ariel because I needed a font which would read well in small size over short bursts.
Since then, I default into either Garamond or Palintino Linotype, but I look forward to checking out the others!
All the best,
Jeff Rose-Martland
author of Game Misconduct
Thanks, Jeff, always nice to find something new. Your choices make sense (although I probably wouldn’t use Arial) and there’s a whole world of fonts to discover. Thanks for your input!
Jeff,
When I was a kid and I would dress myself, it wasn’t unusual for me to wear my favorite red socks, and mismatched pants and shirt. And my mom had an expression–I don’t mean to insult anyone, but it’s just a descriptive line–she’d say, “You look like gypsies dressed you.”
Too many typeface families is typesetting that might draw that kind of a line. And I know about working on books with many diverse design elements. I just finished design and layout of a 1,000+-page novel. It had all sorts of element in it aside from straight body text: quotations, letters, newspaper articles, magazine articles, signs, and more. The idea as I saw it was to distinguish each element from all the others (obviously), but have it remain part of the “culture” of the book.
Palatino is a default font on the Macintosh, as Arial (I believe) is on Windows machines. This has led to an overuse of these typefaces. Palatino was one of my original two or three favorite typefaces. But I had to learn to use other typeface. In fact, Garamond replaced Palatino as my favorite text face early on, when it got thru to me that if everyone had it, it was bound to be overused. But all the varieties of Garamond–and Garamond may be a misnomer; you have to check whether the Garamond you use is truly a Garamond-style type (if you care to know, that is–interesting history).
Anyway, just a few thoughts that came to mind.
I greatly appreciate your advice Stephen. I was actually just discussing this article with my wife and saying the very thing: that I am often concerned when sending out work that the recipient may not have the font I used. Having no knowledge of fonting (other than endlessly scrolling down the list in various wordprocessers over the years), articles like this are very useful!
And I know what you mean about multiple typefaces. I try to avoid them now, especially since I have discovered what a pain they are when reformatting the text. Still, I have used multiples for artistic purposes, primarily when I needed to separate the sections. The narrative in Game Misconduct is tied together with media reports, which separate the location change between 5 different cities. It looks really good on paper.
My finalist entry for the CBC Lit Awards (set in a call centre) used multiple fonts to indicate which conversation was taking place; the piece was all dialogue. As a literary device it worked extremely well and looks wonderful off the printer. However, using 4 different fonts caused massive headaches for both me and the magazine publisher who finally bought it. Which is the best warning of all: the use of multiple fonts, no matter how well done, may render your work unpublishable!
For a look at Game Misconduct, check out google books:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ML5LqDk0wIoC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Jeff, for an “amateur” production (in the best sense of the word) your book looks good.
Curiously, I’ve found that many DIY self-publishers resort to this device of using several typefaces. Usually I find it unnecessary, and if the book is well-written, more of an obstacle to readers than just setting the book in one typeface. Authors always claim that they do this to make their intention clear to the reader, but I think you have to give the reader more credit. They usually know what’s going on. Sometimes a simple text break or a small ornament can be used to differentiate different sections of the book and it really isn’t necessary to have the pages jumping from one font to another. But it takes a while to learn all this stuff! Thanks for letting us see your work.
Thanks for the compliment Joel!
I see what you mean about the fonts, now. There really isn’t an easy guide to fonting for writers (unless there’s one here!). My wife had to explain the difference between serif and san-serif to me, and I bet she only knows because she’s a visual artist! With the rapid expansion of ebooks and self-publishing, this knowledge is certainly more essential. I too have found that the ‘artistic reasons’ for fonting often are the result of weak writing or immaturity; like drawing hearts of the ‘i’ in your name. The other reason is probably a simple lack of knowedge of layout. I’ve gone up the steep learning curve, but I bet many take one look at the hill and park. I don’t often see ornament breaks in modern work, but frequently do in early pulp and sci-fi. I bet a lot of writers never even think of it.
Again, thanks for the compliment. It means a lot!
Jeff, my compliments, too: gorgeous work for first try. You might be interested in Robert Bringhursts “The Elements of Typographic Style” — author is poet and writer itself. Its pretty hard at first moment, but you cant live without it after reading it once. I met him once in our country ant going to see him at ATYPI conference in Dublin soon — his insight is beautiful and well argumented, too.
That sounds like quite a project, Stephen. I usually think of novels as the simplest, typographically, but yours is anything but. I’m doing a book right now that the author wanted in 3 or 4 typefaces, but by using other ways to distinguish the various sections, I’ve managed to keep in one body face with only small sections in a second typeface.
Well, it was a big project. Or I should say it is a big project, as it’s not quite complete. Next week I should receive some of the author-publisher’s cover ideas that he put together in Microsoft Publisher. (He’ll make PDFs to send me.)
My client, at first, was thinking about multiple typefaces. I told him my “dressed by gypsies” story and he got the point immediately. So I was able to go my usual route: a serif for body type and most longish elements; sans serif for display items and specialized, short text passages. For this novel I chose Arno Pro as my serif and Scala Sans for (duh) the sans. It’s sometimes fun to use a superfamily that has been designed with both a serif and a sans serif for a real unified look, tho’ I generally think this can sometimes seem too programmed. An exception, for me, was a student guide I just finished, in which I chose to use Jos Buivenga’s Fontin and Fnntin Sans families.
Stephen, I think it’s really attractive (for the right book, of course) to use a family of serif & sans, for instance in academic books. I love Arno but haven’t used Scala Sans much at all. Fontin Sans I just discovered last year, and have used it several times on cover designs and as display type, chapter headers and the like. It’s a beautiful face. Right now I’m still exploring Chapparal, which I re-discovered after writing the Carol Twombly piece, and have a book going to press set in it, can’t wait to see the finished product.
I should go thru my archives–tho’ it’s such a long, tedious process, digging out CDs and DVDs, decompressing files, and checking what typefaces I used–because I believe I used Chapparal for a book a year or two back (after reading something somewhere else about Carol Twombly).
Looking thru all these new (to me) designers commening here, I’m wondering if I should run another edition of my 4 Questions for Designers on my blog. I’ve learned so much more about type and typography since then that I would love to see some new takes on the subject. I wonder, too, whether anyone who answered previously has anything changed to say.
I don’t know if I remember that, Stephen, it sounds interesting. How does it work?
It is bit confusing how the word “display” is used: for me, it describes special font cutting for bigger sizes, not for using some font for headings.
Look Arno Pro and Warnock Pro — both have special cuttings (display) for bigger sizes. Display means much more refined character rendering, just take and try with those two fonts. Naming say Arial “display” have no sense, since it does not have any different cutting for this.
Joels Fontin makes more sence in this context, seems very good indeed for “sans” companion and headings (and has good italic, too). And again cause of refined rendering…
Andres, you are correct insofar as talking about typefaces. A specifically designed Display font is just so. But there is another way to use the word “display,” as the context reveals, and that is in referring to the material that is typeset. Display material includes heads, of course, but also othe non-bosy text items, such as tables, signage, and such.
Thanks, Stephen: I supposed there is another meaning.
Thanks for the clarification, Stephen, that’s exactly how I was using the term. I do love those fonts that come with “display” variants, too!
I just discovered that, of the fonts listed, only Garamond is in the Windows pack. Not an issue for self-publishing, but a heads up for submissions: if you use a font not in the default pack, you run the risk of the recipient not having the font on their system, meaning your formating may be off when they substitute one of the defaults.
It would be wonderful if you would do your articles in a way that they are easy to print out and save. or share. Like have them in a PDF.
That’s a great idea, Jason, thanks. Especially the posts with samples of typography would be nice in PDF.
There’s actually a WordPress add-on that attaches a button to each new blog entry that creates a PDF of the entry on the blog reader’s computer. But you need to be careful and investigate, because it’s one of the things my tech guy told me to ditch after I was hacked into. I still think it was done thru carelessness going online on my then-new laptop via unprotected WiFi, tho’. And it did work flawlessly as far as distilling PDFs.
Hey, that sounds interesting Stephen. Do you by any chance remember what the plugin was called?
Also, Jason, if you just want the text without the images (not a good solution, I know) you can use the “send to print friendly” button in the “sharing is sexy” buttons at the bottom of the post, and it will print or create a PDF of the article.
Sorry, Joel. I’m trying to remember, but I just can’t seem to. I just did a quick Bing search–I’m thru with Google and Chrome until they stop making a goof out of their “Do no evil” motto by pushing for corrupting the equal access thing of the Internet, and I recommend everyone else boycott all things Google–for the plugin. To no avail.
Well, thanks Stephen, I bet I could find it.
Not sure how your boycott is going. They were still ranked #1 on Alexa as of today. I guess I should find out what the little gnomes have been up to.
I don’t want to redirect the purpose of your blog and the comments generated by this piece in particular, but Google’s come out against net neutrality essentially. They’re for a two-tier system, with big business and corporations having all the broadband and speed and the rest of us having a slow pathway to the ‘net.
Hey guys!
Sorry for blowing my own trumpet but perhaps this can be useful: http://blog2book.pothi.com
You only need to specify the URL of the blog and how many posts you want etc. You can choose which posts you want and it will create an e-book for free. I will love to get your feedback on the service!
Regards,
Abhaya
Methinks you’re missing the point of this discussion: the question is about a simple plug-in to WordPress that will allow one to turn a particular piece on a blog into a PDF.
As an aside, using a Gothic flavored typeface for your headline and that funky font for your body text would not give the casual observer a great deal of confidence in your typographic skills. (I don’t mean to be an ass or unkind; I’m just trying to explain that if you’re going to “blow your own trumpet,” you need to make sure your presentation is up to snuff, else you may unintentionally turn away prospects before they’ve had a chance to see your wares.)
Hi Stephen,
I think the original problem was to have a easy way to share the articles. One good way is if Joel creates PDFs for a selected category or of selected posts and provides them for download. Not like a WordPress plugin but might prove to be useful to new readers who get a collection of the best articles posted till date!
That aside, let me accept right away that I am quite bad with these things. I don’t have much typographic skills to talk of, so the casual observer would have guessed right
. Having said that, did you try out the app? I think I have used pretty standard stuff inside – a Serif for the headings and a sans for all other text. I would be happy to send you guys the print-ready PDFs that we generate to get your feedback on them. I have tried to include whatever little I know about book typesetting and could implement.
Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. Will try to find something more sober for the first screen also
Regards,
Abhaya
May it be this plugin?
http://en.pdf24.org/wordpress-pdf.jsp
best
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Neither is the one–I don’t remember having the resulting PDF emailed anywhere. However, they do sound perfectly serviceable for what we’re talking about. I just remember the one I found simply deposited the PDF on my computer’s desktop.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I plan to try some of these PDF makers out when I get a chance and I’ll write up the results on my blog.
RE: favorite book fonts
Scala, Minion, Filosofia
They work also on coated paper stock and don’t have too much contrast which can make reading difficult.
What font do you recommend for children’s books?
Call me old fashioned, but my favorite is Century Schoolbook. Any easy to read typeface with clear and classic letterforms ought to work, though. Thanks for the question, Eric.
I love New Aster for interior layout, as well as Sabon; and Scala Sans for headings. Avenir is also a very nice, solid sans-serif choice.
Tara, thanks for you input. I haven’t used New Aster in years, but now you’ve got me thinking . . .
Hi Joel,
I’ve found that I absolutely love Garamond and Bembo would be a close second. As a newbie, I’m just beginning to explore and experiment with other fonts so I love the discussion here!
Nakia,
Garamond is an all time favorite and one of the most popular book fonts for a long time, you can’t go wrong there. Bembo is beautiful but I’ve found needs care and I wouldn’t use it at small sizes. But for reading, it’s terrific. Good luck with your project.
I just purchased Arno Pro and hope to use it in the next project. It works well at smaller sizes.
Arno Pro is a lovely font, plus comes with many usable faces. A great choice for a history-based book, as it seems to have a bit of an antiquity look to it.
Tara,
Yes, I agree with you that it is good for history and scholarly manuscripts. It seems that it would also print well on a matte coated stock and not be to contrasty for easy reading.
Tara and Leslie,
Arno Pro is a great choice, very easy to read and works well in a variety of situations. I just used some Arno Pro on a book jacket and my client loved it.
Thanks for your input here!
Late to the party (but always the life of it)… I’ve done typesetting for several decades and know just enough to be dangerous. I can’t believe nobody’s blown the horn for one of my favorites, Palatino! Although I adore Garamond as an all-purpose text typeface, I decided to use Palatino for my self-published book of humor essays. It feels like a slightly more “fun” typeface for humorous content. I also love seeing something light and airy like Berkeley Book for classic literature.
I just typeset a book for a client who asked for Hoefler, which I think worked well for her cozy mystery.
When I got my first Macintosh back in 1989, Palatino was the first serif type I took a shine to. Because it was one of the typefaces that came with the Mac, I used the hell out of it. But so did a lot of other people. I mean, it comes for free with the system, so, of course, it’s going to be used an awful lot. Makes no difference that it’s an attractive font. Book design requires a little bit of distinction. The other thing about Palatino is that it’s kind of “corporate-looking” and really isn’t suited to books.
I still use it, however, on all my hard copy correspondence.
Well, that was over twenty years ago (I was using a Mac at work back then too, though I’m a PC person myself), and I don’t see it all over the place anymore. I wouldn’t use it to typeset a novel or a nonfiction book with some seriousness to it. But honestly, it looks just right for a book of Bombeck-esque family humor essays.
I also use it for our weekly church bulletins because it has a solidness to it and it stands up well to photocopying on a so-so copier without the letters breaking up.
Palatino was also one of my first favorite text faces.
Has anyone tried Aldus nova Com Book? This is part of Hermann Zapf’s re-drawing of Palatino in 2005 and is focussed on gracefully setting book text.
If you like Palatino you might be interested in what Palatino has become. Zapf has dramatically expanded Palatino nova into a super family, complete with more weights of the serif family, a sans family and an informal family.
Hey Kevin, thanks for that tip. I didn’t know about the Palatino “nova” before but it’s one of the biggest type families I’ve ever seen, each with some of the distinctive Palatino details.
I never thought much of Palatino as a book face, and someone remarked recently that it was originally designed as a display face. As Stephen says above, it certainly was beaten to death for about 20 years although it seems less common these days. Thanks for the contribution.
Does anyone know the font used in the book EVERMORE by Alyson Noel? It’s used in a variety of other books, as well. Any help would be much appreciated.
Speaking of fonts, here is an article on the top ten typefaces used by book design winners for the years 2005–2008. http://tinyurl.com/5lzznu
Leslie, thanks for that terrific link. I see that Adobe Garamond and Electra both were in the top 10, no surprise there, but there’s lots of inspiration for book typographers on the list.
Very interesting. I’m now deciding between Caslon and Mrs. Eaves for my book.
What do you guys think of Mrs. Eaves? It seems to have a bit more character on the page vs. Caslon. However, it also appears a little more erratic with spacing.
Which one is easier on the eyes for a sustainable read?
Austin: Mrs. Eaves is an elegant, old fashioned-looking font that I’ve used many times for invitation designs (it has beautiful small caps), but never for a book interior. I think it’s completely readable, but is small and short, and might not be as mainstream readable as Caslon would be. It would depend on the subject matter, though — something in the historical genre may work very nicely with this font, but if it’s modern or business-related, then no. Hope that helps.
Hi Austin,
”Anthill”, a novel by E.O. Wilson was typeset in Mrs. Eves. It is very legible IMO. (at least I read it in two days.) The designer used more leading than normal, which I think helped with readability. You can control the spacing with Indesign type controls.
Hi Tara, Hi Leslie,
Thanks for your opinions. I’m on the brink of going with Mrs. Eaves, and your perspectives help a lot. Tara, I agree with you on the context. My book is a historical adventure; this font seems to enhance the feel of the period as you say. The fit seems natural.
Leslie, thanks for your advice on the leading. I’ll discuss this idea with the designer, who’s an excellent professional and has done wonders this far.
Oh, yes, an historical adventure would be lovely in Mrs Eaves. Good luck with your book!
Austin,
Your book designer might also have other font suggestions that they have used in the past for historical novels. There are many choices so no need to get locked into just two.
It’s almost like a “type advisory board” here, and I appreciate the knowledgable comments very much. I haven’t used Mrs. Eaves, but it has an interesting period look and I’ve put it on my list to have a closer look at.
Opinions are split on Mrs. Eaves for book text. I liked it, but before using it nosed around to find out what other designers thought about it. What I learned kind of spoiled it for me, at least for body text. Perhaps I’m too open to suggestion, but after reading other people saying Mrs. Eaves is gappy and can result in wordspacing that’s wide, sure enough, that’s what I noticed in my own samplings of text blocks. Wide wordspacing is the thing that I most dislike seeing in full justified text. So I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone for book typesetting unless they planned to take the time to check into the precise type size/line length combination that minimized the chances of wide wordspacing.
What do you think of Calisto for poetry? I am laying out two poetry books. I think a feeling of spaciousness should be a subliminal element in these books. I do like Garamond, but I have seen Calisto used for poetry and it was quite nice.
I realize that this post is a bit old… but I just discovered this page
So, if anyone still cares.
I am fond of the following:
1. Garamond family fonts
2. Bergamo Pro
3. Caslon
4. Warnock Pro
5. I like Arno, but… it is not as easy to read as others.
6. I just recently tried Adobe Text Pro in a book that is going to press early May. I like it, I think. Has anyone else used it for anything? What do you think?
On the subject of Warnock Pro: Warnock pro is a very readable font. I have used it in two publications already as the main type face. It has very defined serifs that allow the eye to follow the text easily. It is also ascetically pleasing. At least, it is to me. Here is a sample chapter of a book we published a year or so ago. It’s in Spanish, because that’s what we do. But I think anyone will get the idea.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1886014/Warnock.pdf
Yours,
Nick
For the interior text in my new novel, my publisher, who will be using Lightning Source for the pod printing, has suggested Garamond (but it prints too light, I’ve seen, in pod), Goudy Old Style (it too has fairly thin letter portions and thus prints a bit light), Callisto MT (looks thick enough, a bit TNRoman but probably reads easily). Bookman Old Style or Book antiqua or (possibly) Palatino linotype look perhaps possibilities too. I don’t have available here a Minion or Sabon to check out, but I’ve known designers who like them for book interiors. The darkness/density and readability of a font is very important to me, though it should look good too–so that it will in effect help draw the reader through the story. You all are so expert; can any of you suggest which fonts to use for this, for LS pod printing? Thanks.
Paula, I’m not in favor of using typefaces that come with a computer because they’re so ubiquitous, people–readers–use them all the time and they therefore may already have attached certain meanings of their own to those types, based on their usage. Minion, too, is very popular; I haven’t used it myself in sometime, tho’ I doubt you can go wrong with it. And Sabon is a great, great type that I’ve used a number of good times to good effect.
Stephen, thank you. Would you say this is true for the Adobe (or a number of other, proprietory) versions of these fonts–e.g. Callisto (if there is a non-pc-standard/loaded version of it)? I like Sabon but may be a bit thin for pod? I do like Minion; is there a version particularly useful for pod interior for an easily readable novel? I hope these are not too many questions; you and others here are so amazingly knowledgeable it is gift for us authors!
Yup. My knee-jerk reaction is to avoid like the plague any typeface that ships with an operating system.
Not because the fonts are bad. Because generally speaking they are not. They are sturdy, generic typefaces that hold up to all kinds of abuse.
BUT. No matter how much work you put into the project, the fact that everyone who sees it already has and uses that typeface for all kinds of things *himself*, is going to give the impression that somebody’s secretary threw it together without very much thought or consideration. It is just not going to look like a *professional* piece of work. And even if someone isn’t a professional, if they are taking it to print, they want it to *look* as if it is.
Paula, From what you’re describing you might find Dolly from Underware interesting. John D. Barry wrote a favorable review on it:
http://www.creativepro.com/article/dot-font-a-book-typeface-with-flourishes-
I’ve used Dolly for a couple of memoirs with good results. Nice small caps and a graceful italic among other things.
Thank you very much, Kevin. I’ve looked up Dolly in Barry’s review and it certainly sounds right, though the examples he gave look–online–a bit TNR-stiff, but this may well be very good in print. Certainly, his points re going back to what fonts were made to look like before they became spindly gray in digital printing are right on! Thank you again. I’ll look into this.
Well, remember, Paula, I started out in s slightly different direction than you asked from. You were asking about light on the page. My reservation about any types that come native on a computer is that they are used too much for everyday things by people. For instance, Palatino is my letter-writing and invoice type. It was my very first favorite sans serif type back in 1989 when I got my first Macintosh. But it has meaning to me–my own letters and invoices–that I can’t shake for purposes of book typesetting, which, of course, are always way different than my own letters and invoices. As for light on the page, I always run a sample of my own–will LS show you any type samples on the type of printed page they will output for you?
Stephen, thank you! I have to go through the publisher but I’m pretty sure she can get LS to send some printed-output type samples. I’d seen two on a particular book they’d done for her in pod, which in fact warned me to use care on this. The publisher has sent me some pdf sample pages — Garamond, Goudy Oldstyle, and Callisto — but you are right, this does not say what the LS pod output will look like (on white standard tradebookpb paper). I shall request she ask LS for a sample page of the Callisto, of Minion pro regular, perhaps of Caslon, perhaps of (Kevin’s suggested favorite here) Dolly if they have it. This is an excellent idea. This is a great blog!
My blog’s not half-bad either on book book design, freelancing and such, Paula.
If you have Minion Pro as an option, Paula, you might also take a look at the Medium weight which apparently was designed to give a bit more weight than the Regular face to a page of text. Same smooth color on a page.
Paula, thanks for the question, and thanks also to Stephen for his great type advice. I think it’s important to realize that these are almost entirely personal preferences. For instance, I recently typeset a 584-page memoir in Adobe Garamond Pro that was printed at Lightning Source, and the book is gorgeous (well, I’m prejudiced, but still).
Minion is certainly an excellent book font, but the typographic design would have a huge influence on whether I would use Minion regular or medium because I would want to control the type color of the page and page size, font size, leading and margins all have a big effect on perceived type color.
I haven’t run into any typefaces that don’t work well in digital printing, which is often a bit sharper than offset. I experimented with this recently by setting a book in Electra, one of my favorite typefaces for novels and literary nonfiction, yet it printed just fine at LSI.
You might also look at Warnock Pro which is a bit heavier than Garamond. For all the reasons Stephen cited, I would not set a book in Palatino unless it was requested.
Hope that helps!
Two questions ..
1) What are good font choices for an ebook on Kindle?
2) What font choices would be good in Linux (such as Ubuntu.com)? The default installed fonts are Open Fonts rather than proprietary such as Adobe listed here. More and more people are going to Linux (stability, cost, less hardware overhead) as well as document processing on LibreOffice/OpenOffice (fonts depend on OS installed, and LibreOffice will pick up Windows fonts if used there). Examples that I see similar to the ones on your post include: (URW Bookman, Century Schoolbook, Gentium Book, Georgia, URW Palladio, and maybe Nimbus Roman).
I’m currently writing a novel using URW Bookman but will change it prior to publishing on the Kindle – it gives me an atmosphere feel writing it but I don’t think it translates to the Kindle.
Steve, Kevin, Joel—thank you! Your suggestions are beyond invaluable. I shall take this information to my publisher, who has been fine about working with me on earlier design questions, like page size, paper color, margins, and decorative fonts (except about using Castellar on the cover); hopefully, she will get LS (LSI now?) to send some samples. Kevin, I’ll look at the medium as well as the regular of the Minion pro. And Joel, I’d definitely look into Warnock Pro–and also check out which Garamond font the publisher’s been using–though I think it’s the Adobe (pro) version. Stephen, I shall look further into your blog on these other issues—right now my other big issue is finding a good fiction publicist! Again, thank you all very very much.
I love Bembo, I but I don’t like its italic typeface. I think it’s too “sharp”. Calluna is very similar to Bembo, and its italic is “softer”.
This was very timely. Bembo is one of those fonts that whips me back to the time I used to typeset, back to front, in lead type.
No, I’m not 104.
Fantastic, Rosanne. The hot metal typesetters really understood typography. I loved Bembo too but miss the original since the digitized version is so spindly.
First, you’re welcome, Paula. And as for a fiction pblicist, try asking around on Yahoo’s Self-Publishing Group.
John, does it really matter what typeface you use for an ebook? I mean, the big thing about e-readers is that the (human) reader can change fonts and adjust type size. So this kind of throws off any design choices one might make. In fact, that’s the chief reason I’m still leery of doing ebook version of print books.
John,
I am designing an ebook using Gentium Book because it is open source and has the full extended character set for accented letters, etc. Many fonts do not include those and they come in as character substitutions.
So, Leslie, how do you feel about the fact that e-readers allow the human reader to change your chosen fonts and type size? I mean, I understand how it’s nice for a person to read comfortably. But what’s the point of designing an ebook if it can’t stand as the designer intended?
Stephen,
I don’t believe that the point of an ebook is to replicate the printed book–unless it is a fixed layout ebook. Ebooks are an entirely different reading experiences and as you say the e-reader device itself establishes the look and feel more than the designer. The design part comes into play with how the designer tags the CSS style sheets. The text is reflowable depending on the size chosen and the book will look different on all devices depending on screen size. So, for an ebook it isn’t what it looks like but how it works. They are more like websites in that respect than books. Having said that I think that the user interface for most e-readers is mediocre and could be improved.
Well, yeah, Leslie, I’m talking “fixed” layout books–print books being brought over to e-readers. See, that’s my problem with ebooks, they already tend to be mere containers for words and–I guess–graphics. Add in the ability for readers to change fonts and type size, and there really is no there there.
A printed book, however, is more than that: a tangible art object above and beyond its contents. Will anyone ever be thrilled to find a first-edition ebook somewhere the way it’d be a big deal to find a first edition printed, say, The Great Gatsby or Moby Dick?
There are, in fact, two kinds of fixed layout e-books you can create right now. There’s the PDF which has been almost impossible to sell outside of information marketing. But there’s also a fixed layout ePub that displays beautifully on an iPad and which maintains the designer’s typography and layout. And I don’t think it will be long before the advances in HTML and ePub start to give us tools to create good looking e-books. But, of course, they are still digital and can’t replace or even replicate (despite all the money spent on page-turn animations) the experience of holding an actual book. I think that’s one of the reasons print books will be around for a long time.
Yes, I doubt they will ever replicate a finely produced first edition book and they are not meant to be a substitute for a tactile experience. But for many people who are not bibliophiles they work for reading.
I’ve been reading almost every comment on this piece because my book is currently in the design phase and I never knew it’s time-consuming to choose a font combo. My designer chose Berkeley but I need a font that will match Berkeley as a Chapter Title, Chapter Number, pull quote, Subheadings, etc. Pls help.
Abayomi, I’m rather surprised your book designer didn’t also select a compatible sans serif for his or her design. I know when I design a book I generally consider it an integral part of the job to choose a type (usually a sans) for display heads and such.
Okay, so when you say Berkeley, I’m assuming you mean Berkeley Old Style and not Goudy’s Berekeley of his University of California types, yes? In which case, depending on your book’s material, if it’s not something to exotic, I would go with Univers, I think, or Futura. I admit, tho’, that I am still a fan of Avant Garde, about the first typeface I ever noticed and used from the types that came with my first Macintosh and Apple LaserWriter, way back in the 20th century.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the advise. The designer did have other fonts but the problem is I don’t like the choices and the designer doesn’t have the fonts I would like.
I’ve checked out “Futura Book BT” and I think I like it for chapter title but I don’t know if there is a bold version of it or the font itself is bold enough.
That said, will “Univers” be good for pull quotes? My book is on self-management, inspirational & motivational.
Thank you again.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the advise. The designer did have other fonts but the problem is I don’t like the choices and the designer doesn’t have the fonts I would like.
I’ve checked out “Futura Book BT” and I think I like it for chapter title but I don’t know if there is a bold version of it or the font itself is bold enough.
That said, will “Univers” be good for pull quotes? My book is on self-management, inspirational & motivational.
Thank you again.
You’re welcome, Abayomi. I’ve worked with a number of different versions of Futura, including the BT. Both the BT and the flat out Adobe Futura are Paul Renner’s designs. I just find the the plain Futura’s letterforms more pleasing in shape in a subtle way. There are definitely fonts in Adobe’s Futura series that are bold enough. I would suggest starting with the Extra Bold and work back. For short tiles, perhaps, or just chapter numbers the Extra Bold itself might be what you’re looking for. That said, however, tho’ I don’t often use the Univers family, it is an old favorite, as some of my earliest work–layout only, that I didn’t design–was technical/science-related that used a range of the Univers family. And I liked how it was used in that work.
Important LEGAL question:
For these five fonts listed here (Garamond, in particular, as that’s the one I’m interested in), do I have to get permission/purchase a licence in order to use the font in a printed book that will be for sale?
Thanks!
This is a fantastic blog. I often check it out when browsing the web.
Joel — Great article. Thanks for the discussion. As another old guy who still owns a Haberule ( No one remembers, do they?), any discussion of typography is a wonderful thing to indulge in. Now, can you do a follow-up which discusses your favorite fonts for screen reading for those of us interested in formatting for eBook publishing?
I actually like some of the fonts that came with Windows 7. What are your choices?
Hi Richard, thanks for your comment. Haberule? I still have mine, and still use my Schaedler rules almost every day. Haven’t seen any Rubylith around lately, though.
I don’t design ebooks, so I may not be the one to ask. I use Verdana on the blog because, after much experimenting, it seems the easiest and most inviting to read.
I don’t know how you come up with this top 5 list, but in my oppinion as a writer and reader not a publisher is that type font is all about personal likes and dislikes. I don’t like Garamond. I hate Arial and Times New Roman. Now I use Harlow Solid Italic on my computer but unfortunatelly I know that when I’ll publish my book it won’t be written with that font cause it will not be accepted no matter how much I like it. Other fonts that I like are: Baskerville Old Face, Calisto MT, Consolas and Freestyle Script.
Hi Gemma,
Thanks for your comment. I don’t know Harlow Solid Italic, but it would be most unusual to typeset an entire book in italic, and I’m not sure readers would thank you.
As for how I came up with this list, it’s simple: from designing, typesetting and producing hundreds of books over a 30-year period. And they are just my personal opinions, as you can tell from the comments from other designers.
LOL! Rubylith! The other day, I was cleaning out a shelving unit in my basement. An old drawing instruments case I used to use fell off a stack of old copies of AD Annuals and my Ulano swivelknife rolled out! I can’t imagine where I’d even get replacement blades now. What do I do with my set of fine Pelikan pens? I’m sure all the nibs are shot after twenty years! Thanks for keeping us old-timers connected, though. It’s not all obsolete, as this post proves!
Gemma;
Favorite text fonts are usually chosen by publishers and printers for their legibility in sizes of 10 – 11 point and the least eyestrain, page after page, for readers. In considering which fonts to use for the text, book designers must choose fonts appropriate for the medium , either screen or paper. If it’s paper, not all fonts are equally good in print, there are some really only useful for headlines, chapter headings, etc. Times New Roman may not satisfy every readers artistic sense when it comes to the design, but it is one of the very best fro both legibility and reduced eyestrain. Arial, is a fully “hinted” face derived from Helvetica (the 1960s primary font in advertising and corporate text) which is especially legible on screen. A typeface that is enjoyed for its artistic design, ligatures, caps and numerals, may not be one that can be read as text without driving the readers eyes batty! It takes lots of carefully considered decisions to create a book design that really works for the book as well as the readers.
Why readers wouldn’t enjoy italic fonts to read?
Gemma;
I’d defer to Joel here, but in my own experience, reading more than a paragraph of italics, in any font, will give most readers a headache! It’s hard for the eye to move from line to line in an italic font, as it is hard to resolve the first character of the next line, IMHO.
Interesting. I don’t find it hard to follow. Your anwer amaze me because I know most people when they write they do it in italics somehow. At least I don’t know any person that would write someting down on paper in Arial or Times New Roman style.
One widely-held belief regarding the choice of fonts is that people are often most comfortable reading material set in the fonts they’re used to reading. For example, in Gutenberg’s time most of the printed books were set in blackletter fonts, what we now often call Old English. Generations of readers grew up experiencing blackletter fonts as the only fonts they were comfortable reading.
Nowadays, italic letters are generally used as a means of gracefully emphasizing one or two words in a block of text without shouting. Like Richard observed, part of font choice has to do with scale. While I can imagine Harlow Solid Italic as a smashing headline for the right layout, it probably would struggle over the course of whole pages set at 10, 11 or 12 point size. Still, given the modest cost of print-on-demand services such as Lulu.com, I see no reason you couldn’t set your book in Harlow Solid Italic and have a copy printed.
I use Harlow Solid Italic for titles 18 and the rest to 14. It looks great like that and not hard to read. If they are smaller it’s true it’s much harder to read but that only because they are smaller not because they are italic. Well I love old style of writing but not old english language which is like reading in japanese when I have no clue how to do it. That’s a reason I don’t like Dickens at all.
Hello! It is with great interest that I read your articles … Now, I have a question: Would it be plain stupid to do a whole novel in Georgia? There’s just something about it that I like, but I’m new to all this and wouldn’t know about the disadvantages of choosing this particular font … Thanks. A.
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