Candidate 1 of 6
Text face. The incumbent. A Garamond revival drawn for reading sizes — but its own note in the spec says no smaller than 11pt.
Single column · 11pt / 1.45 · 33em measure
Ask anyone to improve a document and they will change the font. It is the most visible lever and the least effective one. The reader who abandoned your report on page three did not abandon it because the type was thin; they abandoned it because each line ran a hundred and ten characters wide and their eye could not find the start of the next.
Two column · 9.5pt / 1.4 · 77mm columns · justified, hyphenated
This is not a matter of taste. The return sweep — the movement from the end of one line to the beginning of the next — is a motor task, and like every motor task it has an error rate that rises with distance. Past about seventy-five characters the rate becomes high enough that a reader begins re-reading lines without noticing. What they notice is fatigue, and fatigue gets attributed to the content rather than to its setting. The conventional figure is forty-five to seventy-five characters for a single column, with sixty-six given as the ideal, and the width of that range is the interesting part.
The small sizes — where a display face fails first
9.5pt — the two-column body size. Judge the stems and the hairlines here, not on the page above.
8.5pt — table and endnote size. Are the thin strokes continuous, or are they breaking up?
8pt — caption and running-head size. This is the floor. If it looks grey rather than black, the face is too light for print at this size.
Small caps · italic for a term of art · bold for a load-bearing clause
Old-style figures 1234567890 · lining 1234567890 · tabular 1234567890
St Monica, mother of St Augustine the bishop, ora pro nobis
Candidate 2 of 6
DISPLAY face. Drawn for large sizes; there is no text cut. Very fine hairlines, small x-height. Expect it to thin out below 11pt.
Single column · 11pt / 1.45 · 33em measure
Ask anyone to improve a document and they will change the font. It is the most visible lever and the least effective one. The reader who abandoned your report on page three did not abandon it because the type was thin; they abandoned it because each line ran a hundred and ten characters wide and their eye could not find the start of the next.
Two column · 9.5pt / 1.4 · 77mm columns · justified, hyphenated
This is not a matter of taste. The return sweep — the movement from the end of one line to the beginning of the next — is a motor task, and like every motor task it has an error rate that rises with distance. Past about seventy-five characters the rate becomes high enough that a reader begins re-reading lines without noticing. What they notice is fatigue, and fatigue gets attributed to the content rather than to its setting. The conventional figure is forty-five to seventy-five characters for a single column, with sixty-six given as the ideal, and the width of that range is the interesting part.
The small sizes — where a display face fails first
9.5pt — the two-column body size. Judge the stems and the hairlines here, not on the page above.
8.5pt — table and endnote size. Are the thin strokes continuous, or are they breaking up?
8pt — caption and running-head size. This is the floor. If it looks grey rather than black, the face is too light for print at this size.
Small caps · italic for a term of art · bold for a load-bearing clause
Old-style figures 1234567890 · lining 1234567890 · tabular 1234567890
St Monica, mother of St Augustine the bishop, ora pro nobis
Candidate 3 of 6
Text face, drawn for screen and print together. Sturdier strokes, larger x-height. Holds small sizes well.
Single column · 11pt / 1.45 · 33em measure
Ask anyone to improve a document and they will change the font. It is the most visible lever and the least effective one. The reader who abandoned your report on page three did not abandon it because the type was thin; they abandoned it because each line ran a hundred and ten characters wide and their eye could not find the start of the next.
Two column · 9.5pt / 1.4 · 77mm columns · justified, hyphenated
This is not a matter of taste. The return sweep — the movement from the end of one line to the beginning of the next — is a motor task, and like every motor task it has an error rate that rises with distance. Past about seventy-five characters the rate becomes high enough that a reader begins re-reading lines without noticing. What they notice is fatigue, and fatigue gets attributed to the content rather than to its setting. The conventional figure is forty-five to seventy-five characters for a single column, with sixty-six given as the ideal, and the width of that range is the interesting part.
The small sizes — where a display face fails first
9.5pt — the two-column body size. Judge the stems and the hairlines here, not on the page above.
8.5pt — table and endnote size. Are the thin strokes continuous, or are they breaking up?
8pt — caption and running-head size. This is the floor. If it looks grey rather than black, the face is too light for print at this size.
Small caps · italic for a term of art · bold for a load-bearing clause
Old-style figures 1234567890 · lining 1234567890 · tabular 1234567890
St Monica, mother of St Augustine the bishop, ora pro nobis
Candidate 4 of 6
Text face, drawn specifically for literature. Calligraphic, high readability at small sizes. True small caps ship as Alegreya SC.
Single column · 11pt / 1.45 · 33em measure
Ask anyone to improve a document and they will change the font. It is the most visible lever and the least effective one. The reader who abandoned your report on page three did not abandon it because the type was thin; they abandoned it because each line ran a hundred and ten characters wide and their eye could not find the start of the next.
Two column · 9.5pt / 1.4 · 77mm columns · justified, hyphenated
This is not a matter of taste. The return sweep — the movement from the end of one line to the beginning of the next — is a motor task, and like every motor task it has an error rate that rises with distance. Past about seventy-five characters the rate becomes high enough that a reader begins re-reading lines without noticing. What they notice is fatigue, and fatigue gets attributed to the content rather than to its setting. The conventional figure is forty-five to seventy-five characters for a single column, with sixty-six given as the ideal, and the width of that range is the interesting part.
The small sizes — where a display face fails first
9.5pt — the two-column body size. Judge the stems and the hairlines here, not on the page above.
8.5pt — table and endnote size. Are the thin strokes continuous, or are they breaking up?
8pt — caption and running-head size. This is the floor. If it looks grey rather than black, the face is too light for print at this size.
Small caps · italic for a term of art · bold for a load-bearing clause
Old-style figures 1234567890 · lining 1234567890 · tabular 1234567890
St Monica, mother of St Augustine the bishop, ora pro nobis
Candidate 5 of 6
Text face in the Minion tradition. A classic book serif — elegant, conventional, quiet.
Single column · 11pt / 1.45 · 33em measure
Ask anyone to improve a document and they will change the font. It is the most visible lever and the least effective one. The reader who abandoned your report on page three did not abandon it because the type was thin; they abandoned it because each line ran a hundred and ten characters wide and their eye could not find the start of the next.
Two column · 9.5pt / 1.4 · 77mm columns · justified, hyphenated
This is not a matter of taste. The return sweep — the movement from the end of one line to the beginning of the next — is a motor task, and like every motor task it has an error rate that rises with distance. Past about seventy-five characters the rate becomes high enough that a reader begins re-reading lines without noticing. What they notice is fatigue, and fatigue gets attributed to the content rather than to its setting. The conventional figure is forty-five to seventy-five characters for a single column, with sixty-six given as the ideal, and the width of that range is the interesting part.
The small sizes — where a display face fails first
9.5pt — the two-column body size. Judge the stems and the hairlines here, not on the page above.
8.5pt — table and endnote size. Are the thin strokes continuous, or are they breaking up?
8pt — caption and running-head size. This is the floor. If it looks grey rather than black, the face is too light for print at this size.
Small caps · italic for a term of art · bold for a load-bearing clause
Old-style figures 1234567890 · lining 1234567890 · tabular 1234567890
St Monica, mother of St Augustine the bishop, ora pro nobis
Candidate 6 of 6
Text face, drawn for long-form reading on e-ink and paper. Optical sizing: it thickens automatically at small sizes.
Single column · 11pt / 1.45 · 33em measure
Ask anyone to improve a document and they will change the font. It is the most visible lever and the least effective one. The reader who abandoned your report on page three did not abandon it because the type was thin; they abandoned it because each line ran a hundred and ten characters wide and their eye could not find the start of the next.
Two column · 9.5pt / 1.4 · 77mm columns · justified, hyphenated
This is not a matter of taste. The return sweep — the movement from the end of one line to the beginning of the next — is a motor task, and like every motor task it has an error rate that rises with distance. Past about seventy-five characters the rate becomes high enough that a reader begins re-reading lines without noticing. What they notice is fatigue, and fatigue gets attributed to the content rather than to its setting. The conventional figure is forty-five to seventy-five characters for a single column, with sixty-six given as the ideal, and the width of that range is the interesting part.
The small sizes — where a display face fails first
9.5pt — the two-column body size. Judge the stems and the hairlines here, not on the page above.
8.5pt — table and endnote size. Are the thin strokes continuous, or are they breaking up?
8pt — caption and running-head size. This is the floor. If it looks grey rather than black, the face is too light for print at this size.
Small caps · italic for a term of art · bold for a load-bearing clause
Old-style figures 1234567890 · lining 1234567890 · tabular 1234567890
St Monica, mother of St Augustine the bishop, ora pro nobis