I work at a consulting engineering firm and write a lot of reports that are read by the public. I have an opportunity to recommend a different font for all of our written documents and am looking for something more modern/fresh than Times New Roman. Also open to recommendations for purpose specific communities about typography/fonts.
For regular text, something sans-serif that is not fixed width like Calibri.
For code or numbers, a fixed width sans-serif font like Consolas or Inconsolata.
Serif fonts definitely have their place, far away from technical documents.
It feels like low effort to use the default Office font when there are so many other options, but in my sans serif font tests Calibri ended up looking the best so far. I really didn’t want to like it! Curious where you think serif fonts belong? I don’t know shit about fonts/graphic design…
FYI, the new official Office default is Aptos. I’ve been making work docs with it for a few weeks and I have to admit, it looks really clean and technical.
https://medium.com/microsoft-design/a-change-of-typeface-microsofts-new-default-font-has-arrived-f200eb16718d
I didn’t know that! It’s going in the pile for further consideration.
I like Aptos more than Calibri, but I wish they also had a better Serif typeface than Cambria.
I write mostly for web, so I don’t use serif a lot. I think it’s still fine for use with headings.
If your reports are destined for print, it still belongs, imo.
What counts as print these days though? When I first started working, we’d get literal boxes shipped to us with 1,000+ page documents inside. Now it’s a cloud link that opens with a PDF reader. Does that still count as print? Genuinely curious, because I see conflicting advice depending on if its print or not.
Anything literally printed on paper. If you’re in PDFs and you know your audience is going to be reading it on a small screen, I’d say stay away from the serif fonts. Especially since you mentioned elsewhere that you’re concerned about document length; you can get away with smaller letter tracking size on sans.
I really like me a good serif. Computer (Latin) Modern is very satisfying. Also, according to some research, it’s up there with the Helveticas and the Arials for readability. Note that 12-point is where serifs flourish (figuratively).
I prefer serif fonts in fiction and humanities, but maybe that’s just my STEM bias showing.
gotcha. Serif fonts seem more readable to me in every setting, but they also look stuffy. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Calibri is bad for technical documents because you can’t easily tell the difference between I and l.
Whatever sans serif you use, choose one that makes the difference legible, like Trebuchet or Bierstadt.
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