Last month I posted an article called 19 top fonts in 19 top combinations which caught the attention of Jacob Cass and Smashing Magazine and quite a few other readers as a result of all the traffic that came in from Twitter. I also got a lot of correspondence over the article with a large dose of “THANKS” included, and even a free virtual beer. Why was this article so popular with some people? I know the topic had been covered before.
As the feedback came in, the answer became clear: graphics. Not just any graphics, but specifically the PDF chart attached to the post.
The PDF of the font combinations allows for the best presentation of fonts on the web. It didn’t occur to me when I made the graphics, that people would do more than print it. They could zoom in on it!
Zooming in on a graphic (vector of course) to a comfortable size in a PDF reader allows for a much more immersive learning moment. It was that simple.
I caught wind of a lot of the tweets than bandied about and noticed the tweaked title variations that I got, which included things with “…with chart” and “with PDF”, etc. I had not highlighted the fact at all in the title, and just tossed in the post matter-of-factly. I also noticed that many people that blogged about the article were able to simply lift the large preview graphic for the PDF, which looks pretty sharp. I think big graphics on blog posts say things like “take me and blog me and link back to my original” or something like that. I think that’s wonderful!
That brings me to this post. One of my first posts on the BonFX blog is Top 10 fonts for graphic designers where I simply listed out the fonts with little fanfare. Take a read and come back for the rationale for this particular list. I decided to revisit that post and submit an updated list of my best fonts (the ones I use routinely) with much-improved graphics and also a freshly-designed PDF chart with a preview.
Top 10 Fonts for Graphic Designers
- Akzidenz Grotesk
- Bodoni
- Frutiger
- Futura
- Garamond
- Gill Sans
- Helvetica / Helvetica Neue
- Minion
- Trade Gothic
- Univers
Graphic samples of the Top 10 Fonts
Some production notes of interest:
- The samples are all produced using one Bold and one Regular font from each typeface.
- The size ratio for Heading, Sub-heading, and Body are roughly equivalent to 18pt, 14pt, and 10pt respectively.
- The “Lorem Ipsum” greeking is the same for each example
- Line breaks are 99% the same to make comparisons as easy as possible
- The red text for the page header and font descriptions is New Century Schoolbook which incidentally is not one of the top 10 choices, but is still one of my favorite typefaces.
PDF Chart
Click the preview below to download a PDF version of the Top 10 Fonts, or download it directly.
Further Reading:
Great list. May I suggest another list: The 25 combinations for both Mac and Windows and the default installed fonts and how to use them. Nothing would educated beginning graphic artists and entrepreneurs to the graphic artist world than this.
Kevin
yes please that will be a fantastic idea.. i support you Kevin.
@ bydaughters
I have to get one thing done at a time
The larger book is in production and the direction and editorial are all set. Mac and Windows specific content could be a post, a smaller booklet, or even another chapter in a second edition of the bigger publication.
How about a Top Ten (or Five) list to begin with?
Kevin
@ Kevin: It’s on the to do list
Cool. Now go to bed, you’ve got work to do tomorrow. LOL (ops, I might wake the….)
@ Kevin: Bed? What’s that? I’ve heard of those contraptions…