Recently, The Millions posted a thought-provoking piece by Garth Risk Hallberg, who discussed the effect of the font on the text he's reading. I've noticed myself that some newer publications have chosen more modern, funky fonts than the usual standbys. Hallberg finds some font choices distracting, and I happen to agree, although I'm hard-pressed to name a title now when it matters.
Still, Hallberg raises some interesting points, and I'd like to know your thoughts.
Specifically, I'd like you to answer two questions: (1) As a reader, do you find uncommon fonts distracting? and (2) As a writer, which font do you prefer to use?
Still, Hallberg raises some interesting points, and I'd like to know your thoughts.
Specifically, I'd like you to answer two questions: (1) As a reader, do you find uncommon fonts distracting? and (2) As a writer, which font do you prefer to use?
13 comments:
As a writer, basically all I'm writing these days are essays for school -- and I use, as dictated, Times New Roman (12pt). My creative writing I do by hand.
I don't find uncommon fonts distracting. In fact, sometimes they can be a relief -- after that sort of dark fuzzy font that Penguin likes to use for its classics.
Different fonts within a text can also be used to good narrative effect -- see Jpod and The Book Thief for examples.
I am definitely influenced by font. If a font is too "fancy" or weird (at least to me), I find it hard to keep reading.
But then, I'm not young and modern, so I thought it was just me!
I've always been partial to pretty, pretty Palatino.
I agree with Christine that the varying fonts in The Book Thief work really well. When used sparingly as an addition to the normal fonts, they really enhance the reading, imho.
Being a young'un, I don't find odd fonts distracting, but when doing serious reading/writing I do prefer a serious font. My favorite fonts growing up were Papyrus and Comic Sans.
I am not really fazed by fonts (unless of course they're all written in caps). However, there is a program called Latex, that most people in the academia use when writing their research papers, etc. Latex uses an algorithm that makes each letter of each word adjust to each others shapes. This makes each word, each sentence, each paragraph more pleasing to the eyes, thus easier to read.
I like when books are printed in new and different fonts. I think that books could be more creative, like Jonathan Saffron Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. That book was amazing. As for my writing, Ariel all the way!
I also like Palatino with Ariel as a close second. But I don't really pay that much attention to it when writing. I tend to just go with the default.
As a reader I'm not that crazy about experiments with fonts. Things should be clear and easy to read.
I will confess that I bought my first pair of reading glasses this year. They really help.
I've actually noticed this most in my own journal writing habits. I've kept an extensive journal on my computer for over five years now, and when I started out, I changed the font every single entry. Then, after a life-changing event happened that matured me a bit, I stuck to a consistent Tahoma entries. Then, when I was on the cusp of graduating college, I switched to Abadi Condensed Light, which I use now.
For me, the font is of course representative of my general mindset. I generally use Abadi Condensed Light for all my informal writing (lists, journaling, creative writing, etc.) because I simply like it the best, and it's clean on the screen. Back when I was writing papers, it was 12pt Times New Roman all the way, but I would write the paper beforehand in single-spaced 10pt Garamond, thus feeling a satisfying AH when I beefed it up to to double-spaced 12pt. Times New Roman.
In terms of books, though, I tend to think that a Garamond-esque serif font is the straightforward norm. Anything like Arial or Tahoma is a little too informal for me. Call me stuffy, but... I dunno. It's not like I wouldn't read it, but it seems that sans-serif fonts in print are just calling attention to the fact that the book is modern. However, differing fonts don't bother me in magazines. Hrm.
Serif fonts are also make for a greater ease of reading, because it's easier to ditinguish letters from each other -- consider I, l, and 1 (capital I, lowercase L, and the number one).
Fonts can definitely change my perception of a book! For me, I want a font that I don't notice at all (unless of course the POINT is to notice the font).
I wrote about this same topic on my blog in reference to the font film Helvetica earlier this month.
I think using a variety of fonts in a book is our modern version of those elocution marks that Emily Dickinson and Gerard Manley Hopkins were so fond of (and that puzzle students when anthology editors include them).
I like the funky fonts but find they can be less readable, so I prefer more user-friendly fonts for reading. For writing, I was fond of the plain vanilla Arial, but I'm starting to experiement with a few others.
Interesting conversation... as long as it doesn't affect my reading experience, I don't have a preference. Recently, I read a book and noticed the letters g and q had such beautiful loops. Not sure of the font, but it did distract me from the topic.
Personally, a nice Garamond or Palatino is lovely, though I always submit manuscripts in good ol' Courier.
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