hi,
i would really need some suggestions for
a flexible sans-serif font for the body text
of a student magazine. i decided to go with
different fonts for almost every article title,
because i think it's not wrong for such an
audience, but now i need a legible and not
boring font for the body. i think serifs wouldn't
go with it, or else?
thanks so much,b.
Try the Univers family.
It have lots of faces and is very flexible.
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Sans fonts having low readability, they need help.
To me by far the best sans for text is FF Legato.
hhp
Ideally, you would probably choose the text face before putting together a cocktail of titling fonts – it might be tricky now to find one that goes with all of them…
Sans fonts having low readability, they need help.
Easy to say, harder to prove.
Optima nova. The best sans serif ever (after the hot-metal Optima, of course).
While it is true that, in most cases, sans serifs are harder to read, this is not the case with Optima nova. This font is made of such subtle tapers and curves that they play the part of serifs, creating a kind of subtle variance that the brain likes to see in nature. In effect, the serifs are "within" the characters, spreading into their entire bodies.
In fact, the design is so subtle that the original Optima (hot-metal font) has proven to be very hard to digitize. The first digitization attempt, also called Optima, had to sacrifice too much in order to avoid the stair-stepping effect at the low resolution of computer monitor. Optima nova is the second, somewhat more successful attempt.
IMHO, Optima nova easier to read than most, if not all, serif fonts.
Leo
While it is true that, in most cases, sans serifs are harder to read,
Prove it.
> Easy to say, harder to prove.
Nearly impossible to prove in fact. Fortunately humans don't live their lives based on formal proof. It is however quite easy to believe. The alternatives are harder to believe. Some of them (like the Emigre codswallop) are plain laughable.
Optima: actually many people -including me- feel it's too gray, and that give it low readability. Remember, information comes from contrast.
hhp
Shouldn't you be using a serif? Perhaps Expo Serif for a more "modern" look. Not that I know what "modern" really means in this sense, but Expo Serif sure aint no Venetian. Looks like a slabby humanist serif of some kind. It works well, though.
The Optima Nova recommendation is interesting.
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