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Which font to use for very small sizes

soren_olsen21 Apr 2006

Hi there -

I am going to make a booklet to be inserted in a cd cover. Quite a lot of text is needed, so I will have to use a size around 7 ... 7,5 ... 8 ... 8,5 pt.

I have not yet considered any fonts. It could be a sans or a serifed - it only has to be highly legible in very small sizes.

The booklet is to be laserprinted in 144dpi (as is the whole cd cover, which I make as a gift for a friend).

Could be interesting to hear your views. Sorry if this has been beaten to the bone regularly – I have been away from Typophile for a couple of years.

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soren_olsen

Dav21 Apr 2006#

This has been posted /mentioned, on Typophile, in the past, but you could consider 'Minuscule', by Thomas Huot-Marchand. Especially designed for usage in very small sizes. ( But, I dont know if its commercially available, yet. )

'Critter', from LettError. ( Originally made for MTV / on screen, but it may actually work well in print, as well. )

'Freight ( Micro )', by Joshua Darden'. ( '..An exercise in whispering very loudly, Freight Micro is designed for use below 9 point in print..' )

Dav

hrant21 Apr 2006#

Even seven is probably too big for Minuscule! :-)

Soren, if you'd like something stylish, try FF Avance.
Another one of my small-size favorites is Parable.

BTW, did you really mean 144 dpi, or maybe 144 lpi?

hhp

Dav21 Apr 2006#

Ooh, And how could I forget about 'Ma Bell'? :)

Seriously, some more suggestions, from the 'Typophile Archives':
> typophile.com/node/5069

Edit-A-Bit: Sorry, 'Italic' tags closed, now. :)

soren_olsen21 Apr 2006#

Dpi or lpi ... well, I don't know ... It's a 'normal' Konica-Minolta Bizhub Color Printer. I don't know the precise resolution, but when I prepare Photoshop files for print, I have the figure 144 as a rule of thumb ...

soren_olsen

hrant21 Apr 2006#

Oh, Photoshop, now I get it. Yes, it's line-screen, so lpi.
But the type is (probably) going to end up very very lo-res...
Can't you use a layout program, with whatever image in the
background, and the type as "object" in the foreground?
Or maybe you keep the type as object in Photoshop, and
it works out?

hhp

soren_olsen21 Apr 2006#

Hrant, maybe I misguided you, explained about the resolution ... I will try again: I am going to design this cd cover in Adobe Illustrator. The booklet that will be inserted in the cover will be around 8 pages of nothing but text, probably two columns. This booklet I will do in InDesign.

The reason I brought on the subject of resolution is that the project will not be produced in offset - but will be made using a color printer, KonicaMinolta Bizhub (possibly bizhub 350 or similar). I now realize that 144 lpi may be the wrong thing to say (at the moment I wrote the post I remembered that figure, because I have used it for photos at one point) the res may be quite higher when dealing with vector graphics and type ... frankly, I don't know very much about it :-/

BTW ... what's your opinion on Charter as regards to legibility in small sizes (given that you don't hate the sight of that typeface)?

--
soren_olsen

hrant21 Apr 2006#

Charter rules.

hhp

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