One of the biggest problems people have with fonts is that they use too many of them when creating a design or presentation. A very basic rule of thumb is that you should only use one or two serif fonts and/or one or two sans-serif fonts for any one presentation or design. Within the fonts, you can use all of the available weights (regular, bold, italic, bold italic) for that font. Once you start mixing lots of serif or sans-serif fonts together, the sense of unity and consistency can quickly go out the window, leaving you with a visual mess!

Here is an example:

As you can see, there is a lot of “visual confusion” here. By my count, there are 5 completely different typefaces being used and, although the design is clean and modern, the fonts are fighting against that “feel”. Also, there are two “design” typefaces being used, Comic Sans and the typewriter font. Design typefaces are really tempting to use because they add a very unique look very quickly. However, they should be used with caution and only when the design calls for it. For example, if I was designing a flier to look like it was typed on a sheet of paper, then the typewriter font is very appropriate. Design fonts should really only be used when they reinforce the message or design concept. Here, we have neither comic book characters or a typewritten look, so I’m going to get rid of them.

Generally, it is good to use the “tried and true” fonts and try to find creative ways to design with them. Some examples of “tried and true” fonts are listed above in the definitions of “serif” and “sans-serif” fonts. Once you become comfortable with using fonts, you can start to get a little more experimental (see quote at the beginning of the post!)

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Tags: design, fonts, presentations