Choosing a Typeface

Start by thinking about what you already know about different kinds of typefaces.  You have probably already worked with both Times New Roman and Arial (or Helvetica), which come standard with most computers.  These are common fonts which can be found in many books and magazines, but they have many differences, the most obvious of which is that Times New Roman is a serif font (small lines and flourishes at the end of strokes which can enhance readability of small type but often do not scale well to larger type), and the others are sans serif, which means that they do not have those flourishes.  

Watch this video on identifying typefaces for a quick and entertaining discussion of the differences between many common typefaces.  How many do you recognize?

Watch this video called "Font Conference" for a humorous look at how some might view the "personalities" of certain common typefaces.  The name cards in the video are printed in the fonts described, but, for a better look, go to your favorite word processing program and see how many of those fonts are found on your own system.  Note that "wingdings" is what is known as a dingbat, or symbol font.  Dingbat fonts consist entirely of small drawings and are not intended to be used to represent letters or numbers.

Go to fontspace.com and browse through the free typefaces available.  Free typefaces often lack the professional look and advanced features of professional fonts, such as swashes, glyphs, and special variations on certain characters, but they can be fun to use on informal documents such as neighborhood fliers and party invitations.  Browse through the fonts which are associated with certain holidays or seasons (Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah) and also look at specialty fonts such as those in the "western" or "sports" categories.  Note that you can supply your own text string to see how certain words or phrases look in that typeface.

Choose a readable font from fontspace.com and download it to your computer.  Your font should be one that can be used to write an English language paragraph and is appropriate for school use.  If you have administrative capabilities on your computer, install your font on the computer.  The following videos explain how to do this on Windows 7, Windows XP, and Mac OS X:
Windows 7  
Windows XP
Mac OS X
If you don't have administrative capabilities, you can still use downloaded fonts by clicking open the font file and leaving it open while you use the font.  Opening the font file will load the font information into memory so it can be used by your program.

Once you have downloaded and installed/opened your font, open Word or your favorite text processing system and write a memo to me using the font you just downloaded.  Tell me the name of the font, where you found it, and why you liked it.  Tell me some of the characteristics of your font, some of its limitations, and some situations in which it might be used effectively.   Your memo should be written using proper grammar and spelling and should be at least two paragraphs long.  If your font is missing punctuation or other characters, you must insert those using a standard font.  Note that a font can only be used on computers where that font has been installed.  If you were to save and send someone your document by email, the receiving system would substitute a generic font when it opened your memo, unless that font is also installed on that computer. 

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