<p>I’m involved in the redesign of a high school course catalog and would like to get your opinions on fonts. I’m dealing with two factions - use a font with serifs or use a font without serifs. The with serif faction claims that studies have proven that a font with serifs is much more readable. The without serif faction believe that their font will look less cluttered and be more appealing to teenagers. You wouldn’t believe the drama we’re having over font selection!</p>
<p>I would check out the font used on things that teens “read” the most – Facebook, text messages, etc. OK, actually I did just check FB and my Verizon phone – both are sans serif. What about HS textbooks?</p>
<p>I vote for no serifs. I think it’s a cleaner, more modern look. To me serifs look more institutional, formal and boring. I’m a middle-age mom, so I don’t actually have the perspective of a young person. My children’s HS and the university where I work use non-serif fonts for our schedules/catalog.</p>
<p>Can you compromise – sans serif for headlines/chapter dividers/etc., and serif for the main text?</p>
<p>Conventional wisdom is that serif is easier to read.</p>
<p>Another option, assuming that it’s always been serif in the past, is to do a one-year experiment – use sans serif and then quiz students to see if they notice the difference and like it. I would think guidance counselors and teachers might notice if students are actually reading the book more as a result.</p>
<p>“You wouldn’t believe the drama we’re having over font selection!”</p>
<p>This type of concern is why I don’t want to do volunteer work or become an officer in any of my hobby clubs. I like to get things done and move on. With most clubs the simplest project becomes a monumental event.</p>
<p>There is no dispute that a serifed font is easier to read… it’s an established typographical fact that any professional designer would not dispute, that is the role of the serif - to “carry” your eye horizontally across the page.
I know everyone is into the sans serif fonts for body copy these days, but then there is a lot of bad design out there! As i get older and my sight gets worse this becomes more of an issue.</p>
<p>If they insist on a sans serif, go for an Optima of something with a bit of a semi-serif. You can’t go wrong with Georgia (as mentioned above) or any of the Century fonts either - as long as you stay away from Times it will seem “hip” enough.</p>
<p>and… of course, if you are the one doing the actual work you don’t need to take a vote. I make this 100% clear in my volunteer work… management by peanut gallery? no thanks!</p>
<p>I have strong feelings about fonts, so, yes, I understand how this disagreement could occur. For me, it would come down to which particular serifs and non-serifs you’re considering.</p>
<p>Studies show that serifs are easier to read, which is critical when you’re talking about large blocks of copy. And critical if the copy is for older eyes or the type size keeps getting smaller in order to save space.</p>
<p>In this instance, I could see using sans, if this is mostly to be read by students and we’re talking little bits of copy, such as a two-sentence description of a course.</p>
<p>The most important thing, to me, is to avoid a silly, trendy sans serif. This is the kind of thing the inexperienced, unprofessional use. It’s like someone got the 100-crayon Crayola box and HAS to use every one! Yes, it’s fun to do something “neat” and “cool” with all those fonts – part Bernhard, part Berlin! – but the real goal is to convey information, and you don’t need bells and whistles in a HS course catalog.</p>
<p>ETA: Agree with AL34, lots of bad design out there. And using a trendy typeface will make your materials look dated that much sooner.</p>
<p>^What does it matter if a high school course catalog looks outdated quickly? Don’t they come out with a new one every year? </p>
<p>As long as it’s legible I don’t think it matters what you use. As others have said, for a course catalog where you are reading bits of text I don’t think serif or non serif is not a big deal. I like Optima - I think it hits a nice balance between traditional and modern.</p>
<p>Agree about the course catalog mathmom. That was a general public service announcement for anyone thinking of using a bad typeface in their school/corporate communictions. :D</p>
<p>I much prefer serif - I normally speed read and non-serif fonts slow me down considerably.</p>
<p>Since we’re in the electronic age where banks don’t want to send statements anymore, could you just make the catalog available online in serif and non-serif fonts?</p>
<p>Serifs are held to be easier to read, however I don’t know of any vision studies that would verify that. Certainly most adults still have done more reading of text printed in serifs, than sans-serif, so the bias could be related to age.</p>
<p>With my astigmatism, I really have come to love the sans-serif especially on a computer screen. Serifs and pixels simply don’t mix well for me. As I read more and more computer printouts that are sans-serif, I find myself increasingly preferring that style even when reading other print media.</p>
<p>While in print serifed fonts are considered more readable, sans-serif are widely considered more legible on computer screens, even though there is no evidence to support this opinion. According to Alex Poole,[4] “we should accept that most reasonably designed typefaces in mainstream use will be equally legible.” Research actually suggests that Serif fonts are more legible but are generally preferred less than sans serif fonts.[6] Nonetheless, reading times on individual words are slightly faster when written in a sans serif font than when written in a serif font. [7]</p>
<p>Most web pages employ sans-serif type. [8] Hinting information, anti-aliasing, and subpixel rendering technologies have partially mitigated the perception of serif fonts on screen. Due to the basic constraint of screen resolution — typically 100 pixels per inch or less — sans serif fonts continue to be preferred in case of small fonts sizes.</p>
<p>(In all seriousness, Lucidia Bright was my choice of fonts for all my college papes. By the envious looks my classmates gave me when I handed my papers in, I think that there was general agreement that it looked stylish and professional.)</p>
<p>I’ve dealt with fonts a lot, and am surprised to hear that serif fonts are easier to read. IMHO, a lot depends on the size of the font used. I do a newsletter in 9 pt font. Justified serif fonts are much hard to read than non-serif. We recently went to non-justified text and that makes it even easier to read. </p>
<p>That said, there’s a lot of different between fonts and they should be tried in various sizes and layouts to determine which are more readable. </p>
<p>For internet use, I also prefer sans serif whatever the size, esp. since people may be consulting the pages on iphones or other devices.</p>
<p>I generally use high-resolution monitors (1920x1080 or 1920x1200) which may improve the appearance of serif fonts. I generally avoid small displays (the iPad is about as small as I want to go).</p>
<p>It’s more than just a matter of readability…the fonts you choose also create different impressions. See the Esperfonto tool on this website:
[EsperFonto</a> - Typeface / Font selection system - choose the most appropriate FONT for your job](<a href=“http://www.esperfonto.com/]EsperFonto”>http://www.esperfonto.com/)</p>