How much text is The Serif good for?

capthaddock20 Oct 2003

I'm working on a corporate branding project for a major forestry association in British Columbia, and right now I'm using DIN as a primary typeface with The Serif for secondary usage.

My question is: in the experienced opinions here, is The Serif suitable for body text? I think it's a lot better than the sans serif faces that some companies use for long copy, but if there are other suggestions, I'll hear them.

Paul

capthaddock20 Oct 2003#

Thanks for the advice, Stephen and Yves.

TheAntiqua is very nice, but if I can't justify the expense, I may stick with TheSerif. It'll mostly be used for corporate brochures, fact sheets, and short newsletters.

My icon appreciates the compliment, Stephen.

Paul

Hildebrant23 Oct 2003#

PMN Caecilia -- ahh, one of my favorite slab serif faces.

hildebrant.

karen24 Oct 2003#

Mine too! I love the italic k.

But I recently used it for a project and the roman turned out a little light even though I printed on uncoated stock.

The printer's "inkjet" proofs were lovely though.

I don't think I'll ever understand printing. I thought the uncoated paper would make it nice and earthly. It wasn't that thin a font to begin with.

Anyone know why this happens?

Dan Weaver24 Oct 2003#

Karen on press they can control the amount of ink and vary it across the sheet. The hardness of the uncoated makes alot of difference. I've run 4 color on a linen finish paper and the ink sits right on top like a coated paper. Why because when you make Linen finished paper they press the finish between two drums and create a hard surface.

karen24 Oct 2003#

> the hardness of the uncoated paper
?

I don't understand. I thought uncoated paper absorbs more ink than coated stock and so has a larger dot gain which would translate to heavier (than usual) font.

Is uncoated paper harder than coated ones then? It's counter-intuitive.

Stephen Coles20 Oct 2003#

Luc(as) de Groot designed TheAntiqua because he was
appalled at how often he saw TheSerif used for long text.

But I used TheSerif as the text font for 4 years in a student
magazine and it worked very well. The rag was printed on
bad newsprint so it performed better than most types
would. Maybe if the company you're working for is printing
a lot of glossy stuff it might be too stark, but I wouldn't
flatly recommend against it. It depends more on the
personality of the company.

But give TheAntiqua and PMN Caecilia a try.

Your user icon is very pretty, btw, PD.

Bald Condensed20 Oct 2003#

We've been using the Thesis families in numerous
settings and they always performs very well. I wouldn't
set fine books in them, but anything magazinish,
brochuresque, corporate-related etc. is mighty fine,
even for body copy.

Though I understand and respect his opinion, I think
Luc(as) always has been a teeny bit anal about this.

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