Re(4): Font Selection Methodology

[Jan Henning <henning -at- r-l -dot- de>]

>My understanding--and you're in a better position than I to evaluate
>this--is that in Europe sans-serifs are generally preferred for body type
>these days.

I never thought of this as a country-specific issue. The reasoning for
the serif/sans-serif combination normally goes:

- serif typefaces are better for long amounts of text because the serifs
guide the eye better,

- sans-serifs are better for short phrases because the forms are asier to
recognize.

Both of these reasons have to do with human cognitive ability and
limitations, which presumably is the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

It is true that Helvetica (and its ripoffs Swiss, Arial etc.) are quite
common for technical manuals, probably because they 'look cleaner'. I do
not think, however, that this is normally an informed design decision.
(The manuals I'm thinking of are not pinnacles of good design in other
respects, to put it mildly.)

So the sans-serif is "preferred" in the sense that it is used by some,
but the design guides I have seen tend to recommend serif for long body
text, same as in the US. (Although it should be noted that this is only a
basic rule. If you know what you're doing, you can certainly use other
combinations.)

I hope this brightens the day of all you localizers, who at least do not
have to worry about replacing their typeface for that French translation.
  ;-)

Regards
Jan Henning


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Jan Henning
ROSEMANN & LAURIDSEN GMBH
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Phone: +49 700 0200 0700, Fax: +49 81 79 93 07 12
E-Mail: henning -at- r-l -dot- de, Web: www.r-l.de
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