Minuscule comes to mind, as it was designed for this exact purpose.
Or Michael Hernan’s Pseudo, but that’s not out yet.

In any case, I’m not sure you want condensed on top of tiny. :-\

Tiffany recommended Celeste Small Text in this old thread.

An agate is what you want. Christian Schwartz’s Amplitude Wide Regular is a good choice, but there are other similar faces. Miniscule is in my opinion way too quirky for mainstream use. In any case the printing quality has to be anno the beginning of the twentieth century to make it gel. And I’m sorry to say that Michael’s Pseudo is not very legible in small sizes, but it does look rather smart in normal sizes and up.

I recently used microprinting for a check-security feature; the text appears to be a hairline rule, but when viewed at 8x magnification it can be read clearly. I used .75 pt. Helvetica Neue 55, and ran plates at 4,000 dpi.

By the way, I used to work for Siegel+Gale, who specialized in both corporate identity and legal-language simplification; the law in some states (here in the U.S.) requires that legal language must be above a certain point size for some consumer contracts (a ticket might be an example) to be binding.

Freight Micro would be a possibility if you weren’t looking specifically for a sans. Is it silly to suggest trying Verdana?

It could work…

I’m just saying. :P

Interesting Cameron - I was totally thinking Helv Neue since this is the opposite of trying to make a design statement. The Roman weight seems about right. .75 points? Wow. Thanks for the tip on the weight.

Thanks everyone else for the tips - Miniscule seems interesting - I have downloaded the specimen and will print and take a look.

This piece is for England so I have contacted the printers (who have experience doing tickets) and asked for advice.

I work in the concert industry and some of the legalese is amazing.

I have seen ads from Live Nation for one band. The legalese:
“All artists, dates, and venues subject to change without notice”.

So exactly what am I buying a ticket for?

Am I buying a ticket for Rod Stewart and when I get there Ozzy Osbourne is going to be playing?

I have talked to all our agents and they tell me that this “legalsese” has never saved anyone, from anything. If the artist doesn’t play you give refunds. Period.

Lawyers, bah…

pbc

“I’m sorry to say that Michael’s Pseudo is not very legible in small sizes”
I’d be curious to learn what makes you say that, Claus. I only have the PDF, but even on my suboptimal printer I find it surprisingly clear in tiny sizes. Except possibly a little tightly spaced.

Helvetica is NOT a legibility face. Under extreme conditions, its closed counterforms suck the big one. Run away.

Plausible possibilities include Verdana, Freight Micro, Amplitude Wide, Bell Gothic, and Bell Centennial.

Cheers,

T

I second Bell Gothic.

looks like Paratype’s version could fulfill my needs (which include italics). we shall see…

pbc

Paul —

If you wish to contact me offline, I’ll be happy to set up a PDF sample of some of the Amplitudes at extremely small sizes for you to review. Be aware, however, that Amplitude does not include italics, which you indicated in your brief.

FB’s Griffith Gothic is based on Bell Gothic, but includes italics. I could provide a sample of that as well.

What you might really need is a dedicated agate, like Font Bureau’s Poynter Gothic Agate or H&FJ’s Retina. Unfortunately, these specialized faces are not available for Retail license, though you might try contacting the foundries and seeing whether or not they would license for your needs.

— Kent.

Sent you an email Kent - that is really nice of you.

What do you guys think of Rotis? I found a thread here recommending it for small sizes - not in this context though.

Miniscule is indeed a bit too quirky for this application. Interesting though…

pbc

How’s about Axel?

http://fontfeed.com/archives/new-erik-spiekermann-typeface-axel-premiere...

Axel looks like it could definitely work except there are no italics - just smallcaps.

pbc

Nina I’ve seen Pseudo in some of Michael’s printed test sheets and the offset printed group specimen from Reading. It suffers the same closed forms as Helvetica making it badly legible in small sizes. Further, the ’scrapings’ he did inside the counters where curves exit the stems are rounded so the whole m-formula effect goes out the window.

Paul another suggestion for your micro-print: Unger’s Big Vesta:
http://www.gerardunger.com/allmytypedesigns/allmytypedesigns20.html

I have seen ads from Live Nation for one band. The legalese:
“All artists, dates, and venues subject to change without notice”.

Am I buying a ticket for Rod Stewart and when I get there Ozzy Osbourne is going to be playing?

No. When you get there, nobody’s going to be playing. However, Ozzy Osborne will have played a concert thirteen years before on the other side of the Atlantic.

I think it’s important to know what kind of paper it will be printed on.

Speaking of Big Vesta has reminded me: I always thought Vectora did an admirable job at very small sizes. I’ve used it at 5 points before with no real problems.

..at about 5-6pt I succeeded once with JohnSans.