Recommended font for Definitions & Examples

Report · Aug 29, 2022

Working with font and background colors in digital books / epubs is difficult, because readers often override your settings. So I decided to display a series of definitions and exampmles with colored text and backgrounds as images, rather than text.

I just wondered if anyone could recommend a particular font. The book is non-fiction (politics). The general text will be set to Georgia, serif. For the definition images, I'm not sure if serif or sans-serif would be best. The most important thing is that the text is easy to read. However, it would also be nice to find a font that looks cool.

At first, I thought Ambroise Std might work. (See the image I uploaded.) I though it looked nice, but it seems a little hard to read to me.

I just wondered if anyone might have any suggestions. Thanks.

Report · Aug 31, 2022

Hi Geobop,

Great question. I'm happy to share my personal opinion but preface it by saying that's what it is, and not an official recommendation by Adobe. I think the most readable fonts are more or less in the middle ground in terms of characteristics, middle weight, middle width, middle contrast etc. I think serif rather than sans serif is easier to read by virtue of flourishes and extra weight added to ends of the characters making them more identifiable, especially at smaller point sizes. With this in mind, I'd ended up with a search something like this:
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts?browse_mode=default&cc=true&filters=wt:r,wd:r,xh:r,ct:r,cp:ul,ns:uc,cl...
from there I would adjust the slider for the smallest font size and look through all of the fonts and see which one's you feel are the most readable but still go for a little visual variety also noting native character spacing. After that, I repeated the process toggling to view the sans serif and went those as well. For me personally, these are the ones which stood out:

Serif

Bookmania
Minion
Source Serif 5
Haboro Serif

Sans Serif

Nunito
Basel Neue
Mentone
Cardigan

I also found this with a quick Google search which I thought was interesting and worth considering
https://www.vistaprint.com/hub/design-decoded-top-12-easy-read-fonts

Hope that helps,

Dave

Report · Aug 31, 2022

Wow, great tips. Thanks.

Report · Sep 07, 2022

THE QUICK ANSWER:

Georgia is an excellent general-purpose typeface for body text. Choosing a complimentary typeface with similar letterforms should work well. Examples include:

• Modernist Typefaces (Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, &c.)
• Realist Typefaces (Century, Clarendon, Egyptienne &c.)
• Gothic and Grotesque Typefaces (Akzidenz-Grotesk, Helvetica, Univers, &c.)
• Slab-Serif Typefaces (Memphis, Rockwell, Stymie, &c.)

Be careful however, about any reversed text: light text typeset on a dark background. If you’re using any typeface with fine lines and features – Didot, for example – they may become invisible in reversed text.

THE MORE DETAILED ANSWER:

Ambroise is a classic example of Modernist French typeface design. And by ‘Modernist’, that means typefaces from the late-18th and early-19th century, otherwise known as ‘Didone’ types. Two of the most popular Didone typefaces are Didot and Bodoni, which give their names to the classification.

Jean François Porchez’ Ambroise is an excellent historical revival of the Didot family’s later typefaces. Like other Didone typefaces, Ambroise has extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. The result: serifs become like hairlines, and thin parts of the letterforms are difficult to see at smaller sizes.

This extreme contrast in Didone and Modernist typefaces is a big problem in the digital world. It’s very easy to change the size of text on a computer: simply choose a point size, and the font scales mathematically. But hairlines like those in Ambroise become too thin at smaller sizes, making text unreadable.

This was not a problem when the original Didone and Modernist typefaces were made around 1800. Since type had to be cut in metal, each discrete size was visually adjusted to produce readable text on the printing press. This process is known as optical sizing, and is used by some type designers today.

Ambroise has only one optical size: the thinness of its hairlines suggest that it’s intended for setting larger display text.

Fortunately, there are some digital Didone and Modernist typefaces with a range of optical sizes to help you typeset text of all sizes. Examples include:

HTF Didot
https://www.typography.com/fonts/didot/overview

ITC Bodoni
https://www.fonts.com/font/itc/itc-bodoni-six
https://www.fonts.com/font/itc/itc-bodoni-twelve
https://www.fonts.com/font/itc/itc-bodoni-seventytwo

Monotype Walbaum
https://www.fonts.com/font/monotype/walbaum

Unfortunately, these three typefaces aren’t currently available on Adobe Fonts, so you’ll need to license them directly from Monotype instead.

If you’re limited to using Adobe Fonts, potential alternatives for Ambroise are:

Lanston Bodoni 175
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/ltc-bodoni-175

URW Bodoni
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/bodoni-urw

Linotype Didot
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/linotype-didot

But these three typefaces are similar to Ambroise: they also have hairline serifs, suggesting that they’re not ideal for smaller text. Fortunately, there is a set of Modernist typefaces that may be what you’re looking for:

The Questa Project
https://fonts.adobe.com/foundries/the-questa-project

Dutch type designers Jos Buivenga and Martin Majoor collaborated to produce a set of four typefaces:

• Questa (serif for body text)
• Questa Grande (serif for display text)
• Questa Sans (sans-serif)
• Questa Slab (slab-serif)

Questa is a unified typeface family, based upon some of the same era of historical Modernist designs that inspired Matthew Carter’s Georgia typeface. If you examine the letterforms and structure of Georgia and Questa carefully, you’ll notice that they’re quite similar.

Because Questa has two optical sizes of serif typefaces, you can typeset body and display text and maintain a consistent appearance. An extra advantage: you can compliment them with Questa’s sans-serif and slab-serif designs too.

Combining Georgia and the four flavours of Questa in your digital books should work quite nicely. They’ll give a unified appearance, but provide you with some flexibility to use serif, sans-serif, and slab-serif text for different visual components of your publication.

If Questa doesn’t appeal to you, no problem. Aesthetics is a highly personal matter, and it’s important that you find something you like. Fortunately, there are alternatives.

Georgia is most closely based upon a set of historical Modernist typefaces known as ‘Scotch Romans’. These typefaces were produced in the early and mid-19th century, but also inspired many later typeface designs. That includes typefaces known as ‘Clarendons’; the Century typefaces are another example.

There are a few Clarendons available on Adobe Fonts:

Canada Type Clarendon
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/clarendon-text
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/clarendon-wide

URW Clarendon
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/clarendon-urw

Another option is to choose a slab-serif typeface with similar letterforms to Georgia. The heavy serifs will work well, regardless of whether you’re typesetting standard or reversed text. Adobe Fonts has a wide selection:

Slab Serif Typefaces on Adobe Fonts
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts?browse_mode=default&cc=true&filters=cl:sl&hide_images=true&max_styles=...

Finally: you could choose a Gothic or Grotesque sans-serif typeface design. These typefaces also originated in the 19th century, and enjoyed a revival in the mid-20th century with the release of Helvetica, Univers, and other Neo-Grotesque designs. Adobe Fonts has a good selection to choose from; here are a few popular examples:

ATF Franklin Gothic
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/atf-franklin-gothic

Hamilton Unit Gothic
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/hwt-unit-gothic

Monotype Grotesque
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/monotype-grotesque

Neue Haas Grotesk (the original Helvetica)
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/neue-haas-grotesk

Neue Haas Unica
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/neue-haas-unica

Process Maple
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/maple

Tablet Gothic
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/tablet-gothic

Trade Gothic Next
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/trade-gothic-next

URW Franklin Gothic
https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/franklin-gothic-urw

I hope that answers your question. If not, please let me know.

Best regards
Andrew

–30–