For any form of communication-verbal or written-to be effective, both the sender and receiver of the message must correspond consistently. Whether your aim is to inspire, persuade or educate, your content should include more than just words if the maximum impact is to be achieved. And when it comes to written communication, presentation really matters big time. From font size to spacing all through to color and layout, there are plenty of aspects you might need to look into when crafting content.
Since the written message is static, you must do everything to ensure it speaks for itself; quite clearly. The style of presentation you use in your perfect bound book, magazine or brochure, can often override the substance in it. The key to effective written communication is all in the font.
Wondering what a font really is? Well, a font is basically an interface between the author’s ideas and the reader(s). In the simpler terms, a font is a typeface style used to pass the message across. The font can be big, crisp, bold, colored, italicised, underlined or legible.
Why Font Matters
Nobody loves reading novels, books or magazines with mediocre content, neither do people love buying pieces with a middle-of-the-road presentation. Marrying both content and presentation is the only key to communicating boldly and aptly to the reader.
When well organized, a perfect mix of fonts can help you achieve the following:
- Focused attention
- Enhanced readability
- A well-set tone
- Perfect image of your ideas or storyline
Tips on How to Use Fonts Effectively In Your Content
If reader apathy is the worst nightmare you can ever think of as an author or marketer, then you need to go an extra mile in creating a vibrant piece that will attract the audience quite naturally. It’s very possible to create a positive impression on your book or novel while inspiring continued interest. It all lies in knowing which font to use, how and where.
Here are some of the font guidelines that you might find useful:
- Lower and Upper Case: Upper and lower case texts can be used in any document body, bearing in mind the punctuations and sub-headings. Don’t use all Upper or Lowercase fonts anywhere in your content. But for heading and titles, you should always settle for the uppercase.
- Font Size: A typical document body should adopt the standard 10-12 font size while for primary and secondary headings font 14 to 48 can be ideal.
- Simplicity: For content to be clear and readable, you need to choose fonts that are simple like New Times Roman and/or Arial. Unless the situation demands that you use other fonts, you should stick to these two.
- Consistency: For you to avoid sabotaging your content and/or derailing the reader’s attention, you should stick to using one or two fonts in one document. But in order to break the monotony, you can feel free to italicise, underline or make bold some text along the document. This can be important for purposes of inflection, emphasis or signalling importance.
For additional tips and detailed guide on the use of fonts in printing, you can consult our experts by calling us or sending us an email.