How to make fonts work—harder—for you

Not long ago, before personal computers became ubiquitous, most people didn’t even know the word “font.” Which is interesting, considering that fonts have been around for hundreds of years. The word “font,” in fact, derives from the old French word fondre, meaning “to melt.” 
 
Yes, melt. As in molten metal. Made in a foundry, hence “font.” 
 
Here at Copel Communications, we’ve been in this business for a long time. Not hundreds of years, thank you, but we did actually get our start in printing, and used to purchase fonts, wrapped in wax paper, and sometimes still warm, from a type foundry. (Read the details in this post, titled, not too surprisingly, “We Bought Fonts at a Foundry.”)
 
So where are we going with all this? Like jingles (another great blog post topic), fonts have fallen in prominence recently. They’ve been overshadowed by flashy effects, say, in Flash. Or by trendy/unreadable page layout (we’re talking to you, Wired). 
 
All of that is sad. When PCs and desktop publishing first hit the market, America fell into an exciting new love affair with fonts. It was when the word itself permeated the popular vocabulary. It was the first time that everyday people saw the beauty, variety, and sheer power of fonts. It was a thrill to simply write a Word doc, and then “Select all” and see how it looked in different fonts. 
 
But then what happened? The torrid affair morphed into staid marriage. Today, we take fonts for granted. They’re an afterthought. They don’t get much love. Because we know they’ll just be there, silently doing their job. 
 
Don’t let that happen. 
 
A little more French for you
 
If you’re a real font geek, you’ll know a lot of the nomenclature that’s used to describe a typeface or the characters within it. By the way, the term “leading” (pronounced “ledding,” not “leeding”), which refers to the amount of vertical white space between subsequent lines of text, derives from the fact that lines of text were originally separated by thin strips of, well, lead!
 
You probably know that there are, broadly, two types (no pun intended) of typefaces: Serif and sans serif. A serif is merely that little flourish that completes a stroke; think of the "feet" at the base of a capital letter “T.” And while “serif” comes from the Dutch schreef, for “dash, line” the sans in “sans serif” is very much French; it simply means “without,” as in, “without serif.” And the final “s” is silent; “sans” rhymes with “John.” 
 
So what do you do with them?
 
Interestingly—and because of the computer revolution—fonts apply to a lot more than graphic or printed layouts. Which is great! You can, and should, employ them to enhance the mood and power of virtually anything you create that has words in it: correspondence, PowerPoint decks, video titles, motion graphics, you name it. 
 
There are, unfortunately, a few notable exceptions: Web pages and email. We couldn’t, for example, select a favorite font for this article; we’re limited to the default fonts on the web page where it resides (whether it’s our own site, Copel Communications, or LinkedIn, or wherever), as well as how you’ve set your own browser, and the device on which you’re reading it, e.g.,desktop, laptop, phone, tablet, etc. The same constraints apply to email. 
 
That said, certain rules apply—and, just like any rules, they can be creatively broken when appropriate. The rules—tradition—dictate that you use serif fonts for body copy, and sans serif fonts for headlines. Modern sensibilities take another step: our world of social media has now equated ALL CAPS with SHOUTING, which you can use, or avoid, as you see fit. 
 
Then there are the decorative fonts (think of stencil type, round-hand script, or fonts evocative of the Old West or neon signs, whatever) that can really add impact—or, conversely, really look amateurish if over-used or (often) set in all-caps. For those, we like to choose them the way we choose stock photos: Create a little folder. Scroll through your (safe-to-assume) huge list of fonts, and drag the “contenders” into that folder. If you’re on a Mac, and you come across a really “hot” one, give it a “hot” label—such as a red tag—in the Finder. 
 
Once you finish all your scrolling, look at the folder of finalists. Again, if you’re on a Mac, instruct the Finder window to “Sort by Tag,” and all the “hottest” ones will rise to the surface. This is a way to quickly go from hundreds of choices to the vital few. 
 
Once you’ve chosen your fonts (and for many assignments, you’ll want to use numerous members of that font’s family, e.g.,Italic, Demibold, Black, etc.), treat them with love. Finesse the letterspacing to best showcase its beauty, while maximizing its readability. It may seem like you’re spinning your wheels, adjusting the kerning of, say, individual letters in a headline. But you’re not. There’s an ineffable power that comes from a perfectly-set block of type. Your audience will never think: “Wow! Great letterspacing!” But they will be moved by the power of what you’re saying, without even thinking about the font. It’s like the musical score in a movie: At its very best, you never even “hear” it. Same with fonts: Done right, your audience doesn’t “see” them. But boy are they ever moved by them. 
 
Need help with that next creative assignment? Our skills go way beyond picking fonts—but, as this article should make clear, we’re passionate about every element. Contact us now to discuss your next assignment. 

---