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Font choices play a crucial role in presentation design
April 01, 2005
Creative Techniques
By Julie Terberg
When developing a presentation you make many decisions, from backgrounds and color schemes to supporting graphics and photography. But don't overlook the importance of your font decisions, because font selection is a crucial part of the design process. Smart typography choices enhance a design and ultimately help deliver the right message.
This article will cover the basics of fonts in regard to style and type, as well as what factors to consider when making font choices for your presentations.
Fonts by definition
To work with fonts more effectively, there are some basic terms you should be aware of. A typeface is defined as the specific letterform design of an alphabet. Traditionally, a font is described as a collection of all the characters of a typeface in one size and one style. Now that we can produce almost any size character from a digital font, the terms typeface and font can be used interchangeably.
A digital typeface usually includes many design variations called styles. Typestyles are based on visual qualities such as character angle, weight and width. Standard typestyles include roman, italic, bold and bold italic. Other styles may include condensed, extended, black, demi-bold and so on.
When you change the style of text using the options on the formatting menu bar, you are changing the typestyle for that font. Be aware that some fonts do not include a bold or italic typestyle, and in these instances the software program will create its own interpretation of what the style should look like. Try to use true italic and bold typefaces whenever possible and avoid a computer-slanted look.
Font personalities
You have many choices when selecting fonts for a presentation. To make the best choice, you should recognize the basic personality categories that fonts are divided into and how those personalities can affect your design. Font personalities can be divided into serif, sans serif, script, symbol and display.
Serif fonts have little feet (i.e., finishing strokes) extending from the ends of a character. Serif fonts include Garamond, Georgia, Lucida Bright, Palatino Linotype and Times New Roman. These fonts appear traditional, serious, scholarly, corporate and business-like.
But for a slideshow, be careful with serif fonts. Some of the thinner strokes may break up or disappear when projected, especially at small sizes. Like all font choices, serif fonts should be tested ahead of time by projecting a few slides and viewing them from the back of the room for text legibility.
Sans serif are fonts without little feet or finishing strokes. Examples include Arial, Century Gothic, Franklin Gothic, Tahoma and Verdana. These fonts reflect a modern, clean or understated personality. Many professionals consider sans serif fonts to be the best choice for presentation design, because sans serif fonts are usually more legible than serif fonts when projected.
Script fonts look like handwriting or calligraphy. In presentation design, these fonts are best reserved for a few words or accents. Like serif fonts, the thinner strokes within script fonts may disappear onscreen, compromising legibility.
Symbol fonts include characters and shapes not found in traditional alphabets. These fonts are used strictly for emphasis, bullet points and decorations. Examples include Symbol, Webdings and Wingdings.
Display fonts have the most personality and are more distinct than other categories. Their character forms often suggest an era or time period, as do such fonts as Broadway, Harlow or Playbill. Other display fonts include Chiller, Curlzand Jokerman. Display fonts should be used sparingly in a presentation.
The font design FAQs
Which fonts should I use?
Select a typeface that can be read clearly at different sizes. As mentioned, sans serif fonts are usually the best choice for projection.
How many fonts should I use?
Avoid mixing too many different fonts in a design, as this can appear conflicting or inconsistent. If using a bold, serif font for titles, choose one clean sans serif for the rest of the text: Georgia and Verdana, for instance. When using all sans serif fonts, try selecting different weights from the same font family such as Arial Black, Arial Bold, Arial Roman or Arial Narrow, rather than two unique sans serif fonts.
How do I emphasize text?
There are several ways to call attention to a word or key point. You can italicize the text, make it bold, change the color, place a contrasting shape behind it, put a box around it, change the size, change the position of the text, place a symbol next to it or change the font. Underlines should be avoided as they tend to run into descending characters and decrease legibility.
What color should my text be?
To increase readability, choose a text color that contrasts with the background. If your background is dark, use white text; if it's a light background, then use black text. You can use a color for titles or text; just make sure the color still contrasts with the background and is visible to everyone in the audience. A great way to check contrast is to squint while you look at the color values to see if anything starts to blend into the background.
Tip: Be aware that some audience members may be colorblind. To accommodate for colorblindness when designing presentations, use bold or italic styles, or other graphic devices to differentiate between groups or to highlight important points.
What about bullet points?
Use simple bullet points like small circles or squares. Complex symbols or shapes can be distracting, and thin line weights may disappear at small sizes.
What about the font size?
The design of a typeface will influence the actual size and two different fonts can vary greatly even at the same point size. Your objective is to make all of the text onscreen readable to everyone in the audience. Larger is better. Some general guidelines for sizes: format titles around 32-44 points and text at 24-32 points. Titles should be slightly larger than the rest of the text, not vastly different.
Beyond size, consider the amount of text on your slides. Remember to edit all of the text to key points only. A presentation is a visual aid for the speaker and audience, and should never be used as a script. Full sentences don't belong on the screen. Try to visualize words into graphic concepts and images whenever possible.
When developing your next presentation, follow these guidelines for making font choices, sizes and formatting. It will guarantee your text is readable, clear and ultimately memorable.
Julie Terberg has more than 16 years of presentation-design and computer-graphic experience. She specializes in custom-designed presentations, including animation and multimedia applications. Contact her at julie@terbergdesign.com or visit www.terbergdesign.com.
Originally published in the April 2005 issue of Presentations magazine.
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