Choosing a Font

Choosing a Font Size
            The size of a font can be varied in increments known as points and are expressed using the abbreviation "pt", as in, 12pt.  A "point" is a unit of about 1/72 inch used especially to measure the size of type.  A 12 point, (pt), type size is about 1/6th of an inch high.
            These are good rules of thumb for choosing type sizes is as follows:
►14 points - Children or beginning readers of any age.
►10 to 11 points - General audiences.
►11 to 12 point - 40-65 age range.
►14 to 18 points - 65 and over, or visual handicaps.
►14 to 30 points - Headlines (the closer in size the headlines are to the body text, the harder it is to distinguish them from other text.)
            Other things to consider:
►Software programs allow the use of incremental point type sizes such as 10.5. If 10 point is too small and 11 point is too large, you can use a point type size in between.
►Many fonts appear visually larger than other fonts at the same type size. .

Choosing a Font Style
            As with any design consideration, it is all a matter of personal choice, but there are some simple things to consider in making this choice.  An extreme simplification is that type styles can generally be divided into two categories; Serif and Sans Serif.  The term 'Serif' denotes a small decorative line added as embellishment to the basic form of a character. Sans Serif denotes a font without the decorative lines.  The most common serif typeface is Times New Roman, while common Sans Serif typefaces are Arial and Helvetica. Most publications in print form are done in Serif fonts as it is believed the decorative lines in this type of font make the text easier to read and help guide the eyes from one word to the next.  There is debate on the validity of this point but it is the most common.  There are current studies that lead to the conclusion that Sans Serif fonts are more suited for some electronic, (internet), applications.  Here is a graphic example of the difference