Hi Typophiles,
My client wishes to use a sans serif typeface for a book project. There are certain limitations on the point-size and number of pages.
When I substitute the serif body text with a sans serif, the page count exceeds the page limit by several pages. I wish to find a sans serif text face that has an average line width similar to serif fonts such as Times New Roman. Can you make a few suggestions? Legibility and simplicity are key.
TS
Economy is a more complex animal than might seem...
Narrowness might seem like the secret ingredient, but a large x-height is actually even better. For one thing, narrow fonts (like Times) do save horizontal space, but when you hit a paragraph break the savings can disappear. Fonts that are wide can be set smaller: they will appear just as large as the narrower font, and save vertical space on every line no matter the paragraph breaks. And Times isn't just narrow, it also has a large x-height. What I'm getting at is this: look for sans fonts with a large x-height, and play with the point size to see how it fits your economy needs. Just make sure the font isn't saving space by being too tight: that ruins readability (like Helvetica).
BTW, I hope we're not talking about a long book, because sans will not work. If you have no choice in this respect, check out FF Legato.
hhp
Here are a few of mine that might do, at the same size as Times Roman.
Sense
Sensibility
Figgins Sans
When set at the same optical size both Agilita and Mantika Sans take up the same space as Times New Roman. Both have a large x-height: http://www.typematters.de/_archive/1
Thanks for all the great suggestions!
Captured from web.archive.org on 11 Oct 2013. view this capture