The appeal of the font

Published in

Designer’s Notebook

7 min readSep 12, 2018

I’ve had it enough. Being a graphic designer, far too often I shudder seeing improper use of fonts. It bothers me so much that I’ve decided to create this easy to comprehend guide, that doesn’t go in details, and is aimed for the masses.

It was easier said than done. How do you even start writing a simple guide and at the same time make it useful to the masses?

You divide them into three distinctive groups:

the job seekers,
the wannabe bloggers,
and frugalists.

Why this classification? Frankly, I don’t know. I guess these types of uses bothered me the most. I’m tired of seeing Comic Sans resumes (yes, I KNOW!), ITC Matisse blog posts, and Arial 500-page prints.

Which font to use for a resume

You’ve found a job listing of your dream, and you want to make anything to raise the chances of getting this job? If it is your dream job, it probably is also for many others.

You have to cover two bases at the same time.

You need to avoid non-formal fonts, and at the same time, use fonts that differ from the rest. Why? Because you want your resume to stand out not only by content but also visually.

A huge no-no list

Times New Roman or Arial: overly used boring fonts that can be perceived as a lazy choice. You don’t want your future employer to think you are lazy even before you begin right?

Futura: even though polished and clean font, the overall appearance leans toward decorative uses. It is not reader-friendly, especially on lengthier text documents.

Courier New: this is the font you used in school when your report needed to be of a certain length, as it is one that has the most prominent spacing between the characters.

Comic Sans: even those born yesterday know, that you cannot use it for anything else than birthday invites for kids up to an age of 10.

Brush script: this 1942 font is so overused, that adding your signature in it won’t be considered personal or original. Simply, don’t.

Century Gothic: too modern and irregular looking for a CV. Also, specific weights can be hard to read.

Papyrus: I don’t understand people that gravitate towards this font. It is just as bad as Comic Sans.

Fonts I allow you to use

Garamond: a true classic polished look. Great alternative to overused fonts like Times New Roman or Arial (also present on a no-no list).

Georgia: similar to Garamond, but not as curvy. Keep in mind; it is not the best font if printed, so use it only if you share your CV via the internet.

Lato: serious corporate font, but at the same time it gives that pleasantly friendly feel to it, perfect for resumes.

Helvetica: a timeless font designed by a Swiss, used by big corporations such as Microsoft, BMW, Intel, Apple, and Lufthansa. It comes preloaded on Macs, but not on Microsoft Windows (you will have to purchase it).

Calibri: Clear, readable, modern typeface that replaced Times New Roman as a default typeface in Word and Arial as a default typeface in PowerPoint and Excel.

Verdana: it is a sans-serif relative of Georgia. It is designed to be easy to read on monitors and when printed small.

Book Antiqua: it was developed using renaissance inspiration, so even though it looks great, be careful that the font doesn’t give a too ancient feel to your resume.

Cambria: as Verdana also this font is designed for on-screen reading and is well readable when printed small.

Which font is easiest to read

Let’s put it straight. Anything you write, you want it to be easy to understand and show that you know what you are talking about. Otherwise, you are destined to fail.

I will focus on bloggers, as blogging is the simplest way to reach a wider audience today, but at the same time, it is the area where you encounter most repugnant font use.

It isn’t coincidental that most of the fonts I mention, were already mentioned above, as fonts get their reputation not only by readability but also by versatility, aesthetics, emotional appeal etc.

Fonts you should use

Baskerville: this 250-year-old font has shown through experiments, that it radiates most authority over all the rest. If you want to be believed, use Baskerville.

Georgia: designed with low-resolution screens in mind, it is an ideal font for desktop and especially mobile visitors. It is also considered one of the easiest to read fonts.

Helvetica: as with Georgia, also Helvetica shares the readability throne.

PT Sans & PT Serif: when in doubt if you want to use Sans or Sans-Serif font, ParaType has you covered, as it has both. Also, they work marvellously together.

Open Sans: this Google font is well optimised for print, web and mobile. It is one of the more popular fonts to use.

Quicksand: built from geometric shapes, this Google font works well on small mobile screens.

Verdana: it is one of the go-to fonts for web design. It was created with readability on screen in mind.

Karla: if you want to send a fun-caring message, this charming and straightforward font might do the trick.

Ubuntu: if you share something more modern/futuristic, this is the correct choice. Its humanist-style typeface will resemble the way humans actually write by hand.

Futura: sharp and clean font, that has both formal and casual appeal.

Which font to use to save money

There you are! I’ve been looking for you.

Do I really need to repeat what your boss ordered you to do, more times that you can remember? “Dear employee, we are spending too much. Be a good servant and find me a new way to save money.”

Relax, this one is on me.

Yes, you can save money even with fonts.

I know you’re smart, and you know you can size down your fonts to save space, and thus paper and ink. But what if I told you, there are even fonts that consume less ink?