Typophile

Friendly/Contemporary Serif for Student Magazine

Vivara

Hi guys,

I am currently in love with the font Greta Text and would love to use this font for a student magazine. However, everyone else on the team feels it's a bit too serious looking. I disagree, but what can I say. I am basically looking for a serif font that is between Greta Text and FF Tisa which was deemed too "friendly".

It's body copy this would be for. Since everyone has suddenly become a typography expert on the team — I think I'll need a couple of suggestions to woo them. I'm basically looking for something between the two — contemporary enough, not too serious, but not as friendly (I don't know where they came up with this!) as FF Tisa.

Also, each page of the magazine is 210 x 297 mm — if people would have any idea what size in points the body copy should be, along with any line-spacing suggestions, that would be extremely helpful. The magazine is currently at 9.3 pts (I think) Freight Sans, but that's too large in my opinion. I come from a background in web design, so I'm not really experienced enough and don't want to mess it up.

Thanks for your help.

Edmund.

snow is nigh

Expo Serif might be an interesting choice. Tisa, Greta, Freight, they are all great. Thinking of Greta, maybe Sirba is a choice for you?

Frode Bo Helland

Fedra Serif is right there in between the two.

Sevag B. Martouni

PF Centro Serif Pro 9pt/11

William Berkson

I second Fedra Serif. It manages to look strikingly fresh and contemporary while still having the neutrality that a text font needs...

J. Tillman

Skolar is in the ballpark.
http://www.fontshop.com/search/?q=Skolar

Vivara

Funny isn't it — that you have to be reminded of the wonderful fonts which you have spent hundreds on. I bought Fedra Serif a while back, and I actually really like it for this purpose. I also love Sirba and PF Centro Serif Pro, but I can't justify the expense given that I already have Fedra.

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions.

I'm just messing around with the InDesign file at current — and having compared to magazines such as NewScientist, Time and Newsweek, it all seems that they are set at 7.5 pt. But this seems frighteningly small, even though this figure has been thrown around on the web too after a Google search. Does this sound OK? And I have the leading at 11 pt — this seems right, too. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Frode Bo Helland

8.1 / 11,296 pt Fedra Serif B in 67,883 mm columns. Works like a charm.

Christian R Szabo

Another vote for Expo Serif.

Vivara

Thanks frode frank (and everyone else) for the suggestions. I have officially decided on Fedra Serif, everyone else likes it too. Do you think this goes OK alongside shorter articles in Freight Sans?

Thanks.

James Michaels

7.5 pt? That sounds pretty small.

And keep in mind that some students' eyesight might not be as good as yours.

Frode Bo Helland

The mag I'm refering to had to up the size to 8.1, but they're average reader is maybe 35-40. I don't know what it was earlier. Anyway, I think it could be even larger still, with enough air.

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