Selecting Type for Text: Getting Started

Type that is intended to be read as text is generally set between 6 and 14 points. Text copy appears almost everywhere – in books and magazines, in ads and brochures, on the web and mobile devices. Whatever the application, the overall objective when selecting a typeface for text is essentially the same: that it be inviting and easy to read.

In the days of metal type, selecting a typeface for text was more straightforward because a separate “font” (in its historical definition) was produced for each point size of a particular typeface. Each font of type incorporated specific design accommodations to ensure optimum legibility at a given size.

Today, designers have a vast number of choices, because digital technology makes it possible to set a typeface at any size, regardless of the intended use of the original design. This wealth of possibilities makes selecting a typeface for text a creative process – and a more challenging one.

A typeface selected for text usage should have the following characteristics:

• uncomplicated design features
• open counters
• moderate weight contrast between thicks and thins
• design aspects that hold up at smaller sizes
• ample x-height
• naturally-open letter spacing
• legibility at the intended sizes

In addition to having the design specifications outlined above, in most cases the appropriate typeface will have a personality that whispers rather than shouts.

When searching for an appropriate text typeface, view it in the medium you are intending it for:

• If for print, download any samples provided by the foundry or reseller.
• If the font is already on your hard drive, create a text sample of your own at the size ranges you are considering.
• If for the Web or other non-print usage, test in that environment, including on different platforms and browsers.

If you want to venture beyond the limitations of web-safe fonts and into the word of Web fonts, Frutiger Neue and Frutiger Serif, the Web fonts used in this very Web site, are great choices for text, and can be used for print as well.

• Editor’s Note:Ilene Strizver, founder of The Type Studio, is a typographic consultant, designer and writer specializing in all aspects of typographic communication. She conducts Gourmet Typography workshops internationally. Read more about typography in her latest literary effort, Type Rules! The designer's guide to professional typography, 4th edition, published by Wiley & Sons, Inc. This article was commissioned and approved by Monotype Imaging Inc.