What kind of Font should you use?

Lets start with the different types of Typefaces, Typefaces are a collection of Fonts that share a similar style, there are many but knowing the basics will help and the difference between these, this information can help you pick one depending on the situation, and who you want to get your message across; is it an older (make things easier to read) or younger audience? a logo?.

I have my reservations when it comes to Steve Jobs in the world of tech, although a lot of his accomplishments rest on the shoulders of Engineers, when it comes to Fonts and Typefaces in modern day computers i can agree that we can thank him for it , in his biography he touches on the subjects of Typefaces:

“I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.”

What are these? Serif and Sans Serif typefaces? its useful to know the difference.

What is Serif Typeface?

Serif Typefaces share the characteristic of having extensions, these are known as “Serifs”, you can see this at the end of their strokes, how they “stick out”

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This style is highly readable, useful for longer texts, font examples for these are: Baskerville, Perpetua, in transitional styles or Didot and Walbaum for modern fonts.

What is Sans Serif Typeface?

On the contrary to Serif, Sans Serif lack these extensions, “Sans” in French means “without”. This style is more plain, you can see nothing is sticking out at the ends.

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The Humanist style with square ends instead of sharp corners like we can see on the Grotesque style, Humanist has been the dominant style in the 20th Century. This typeface is great for logos and keep readers interest in large or complex layouts of text. However Grotesque can be hard to read in smaller font sizes.