Typophile

Body Text Companion for Neosans & DIN

Grant Dunlop

Dear All,

I am helping with the design and production of some product brochures and other materials based on print advertisements. The ads have been put together by another graphic design/ad agency and use Monotype Neosans and some version of DIN (possibly the Font Font one). The layouts for the ads have minimal text and the choice of fonts seems to work quite well there (they are not up for changing either).

The other materials are quite text heavy and neither Neosans or DIN are suitable for the amount of text that needs to be set. Neosans has quite a limited character set which will cause too many problems, whilst I have a personal dislike of DIN and especially for body text.

I would like to find another font or family for setting the body text which has a full(-er) character set and is more suited to extended reading. I think another sans font would work best as a serif would jar with the other two fonts. A sans is also more in keeping with the nature and the image of the product which is a protective device for active sports.

Look forward to hearing any thoughts or suggestions.

Regards,

Grant

Stefan H

Three differnet sans serifs sound a bit "over kill". I would go for just two. Also please note that DIN is not really meant to be used as a headline typeface. Why not use DIN as the body copy and Neo Sans as the headline option. Still if you're looking for other suggestions, two of my own designs, SOPHISTO or STALEMATE might fit? Have a look yourself;

http://www.macrhino.com

Grant Dunlop

Stefan,

I agree, three sans is a bit much, but thankfully both Neosans and DIN have been used sparingly. I tried setting the text in DIN but it just doesn't work (I readily admit that I am no fan of DIN).

I have taken a look at both ITC Conduit and Emigre's Solex families. Solex seems to be a reasonable choice (some similarities to Neosans and DIN but much more readable) and might work quite well. Conduit is perhaps a little too quirky too sit in the background.

Thanks,

Grant

Chris Keegan

Grant, I just discovered this typeface yesterday Camingo it looks like it could be a good compliment, and I believe the OpenType has all the necessary features. This looks like a new face, and I haven't used it though.

Grant Dunlop

Chris,

Thanks for the suggestion. Camingo seems like a fairly usable sans which might work quite well as body text.

Grant

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