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I'm working on some literary translations. I want to use a proper font for my work, but it is a little out of my area of expertise. In the past I've always just kept the default Calibri font and never thought anything of it. I'm increasingly hearing graphic artists moan about how people didn't even bother changing the default font from Calibri when looking over others work.

I've temporarily changed to Palatino, as I saw suggested in another Writing @ SE post. But, again, I'm not really sure if this is suitable for a literary magazine.

Ideas?

Mou某
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This isn't something a writer needs to worry about. There are actual designers that you need to hire that will pick the best font for you. Calibri is not only old and jaded, but also it actually looks bad. Arial is old and jaded but it still looks okay. Palatino is old and jaded too.

I'm not a designer so discount the font suggestions below. I'm just a font junkie. There is no such thing as a perfect font for a magazine. It depends upon the the style that you want to go for. This means you need to do some work first. Tell us what type of style you are going for. Present samples and ask us if the samples actually look good because your tastes may be awful. Personally, I still love sans serif Helvetica Neue for a clean and modern look. I love serif Freight Text Pro Light for readability but less sophistication and a less modern look. But, those are for monitors.

Generally, experts say that sans serif is harder to read but a recent research paper has started to derail that notion.

There are a ton of fonts that are beautiful if you just put them together correctly. It takes a lot of experience though. Also, it's the same thing with all contractors, 90% of them stink so find a top 10% creative designer that readers will love (your tastes are irrelevant). It won't cost a lot, I believe, although the cost to use the font might.

Or, you could go to Google Fonts for examples of body text for publication. Then go to Wolf's site which will give you alternatives. Remember that text on monitors look totally different in print.

Finally, these are 2 people who provide good advice on fonts. Some think their sites are the gospel on fonts. I don't think so.

  • Butterick
  • Danny Truong
F1Krazy
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QuietInMontana
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Depends on how it is published.
Online fonts that are good are not the same as print fonts that are good.
And audio versions are something else.

I have some 15000 fonts in my collection and have read many books on fonts. One thing that is clear is that there is no consensus.

In terms of bad fonts to use, I find Times Roman to be hideous. It was designed to pack the most letters on a page for the Times of London paper a couple hundred years ago. It is not a good choice for reading or anything else. So if minimum use of paper is your goal then go for Times Roman. Otherwise, try something nice like Arial Narrow, which is sans serif and much easier on the eyes for reading.

F1Krazy
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