looking for SERIF CONDENSED font

[magritte]

Hi, I am looking for a recommendation of a good SERIF CONDENSED font(commercial one)

Thank you very much

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

Details would be needed in order to make a meaningful recommendation.  How is it going to be used?  Where? On what paper (or background if for Web)?  What's the message?  Etc.

[magritte]

its for paper( will be used in a book)

this font will be used as a font for notes; (the text is about history)

(so each line will be about 4 cm long,and will be 2-3 lines)

and I need SERIF CONDENSED caz there isnt enough space...

any suggestions please?

thank you

[Thomas Phinney]

There are several major considerations:

First, do you already know what typeface the book itself will be set in? If so, it's important that the footnote typeface be compatible with that. Usually, the same typeface is used for footnotes as in the main text, just at a smaller size.

Second, for legibility, you are usually better off using a more legible typeface in a smaller size, rather than using a particularly condensed typeface.

Third, some typefaces have special fonts available that are specifically intended for setting at a smaller size than the regular font. The idea of designing the font differently for different intended sizes is called "optical size." See http://www.adobe.com/type/topics/opticalsize.html for more information. So you could use a "regular" font for the body text, and then a "caption" font from the same typeface at a smaller size for the footnotes.

Minus the footnote-specific comments, the second and third points above are part of my standard talk on font legibility I've been giving at design conferences lately.  🙂

Cheers,

T

http://www.thomasphinney.com