What's "Normal"? 

That's probably something you've wondered about when you've been in a social situation where everyone else seemed to have arrived recently from a planet very unlike our own. If you're working in Microsoft Word, "Normal" is the style that most of your documents are in. So what's Normal? If you click on Format:Style:Normal, the definition might say something like Font: Times New Roman, 11 pt, and a bunch of other stuff. The question is: what should it be? What is the best font (or type style) to use in our proposals, letters, e-mails, and presentations?

Are You My Type?

One of the things you need to do is to design a set of style definitions that will give them a consistent, professional-looking document every time. These style definitions, which are called in Microsoft Word jargon, "templates," are linked with our software so that when you use it to build a proposal, the document automatically has the right look. 

But what is the right look? One of the questions that comes up most frequently is what font to use. Font is the term used to describe the particular type style that a document uses. If you look at your word processor, you'll find a drop-down list of type styles. In the Windows environment, you'll see names like Abadi, Arial, Antique Olive, Bookman Old Style, Lucida Sans, Tahoma, Times New Roman, and lots more. Each of them shapes the letters in unique ways to create a certain "feel."

For most businesses, Marigold or Matisse are not good choices for body copy. But what does work? It turns out that the right font depends somewhat on your medium of presentation. If you are creating a paper-based document on standard-sized paper, either 8 1/2 by 11 or A4, your body copy, the stuff that fills up those paragraphs, will be most readable in a font that includes serifs. Serifs are the little flanges that appear on the bases and tops of letters in certain fonts. For example, in Times New Roman font, a capital letter M will have "feet" on each of the two legs of the letter and little "wings" projecting from the top. It gives the letter a chiseled look, but the real function is that serifs give more definition to the letter shape and make it easier for our eyes to pick out the difference between a lower-case "b" and a lower-case "h."

But if you are projecting your message or displaying it on a terminal-in other words, if you are giving a presentation or sending e-mail-you are better off using a sans serif font, such as Arial or Helvetica. Why? Because the lower resolution of the projection and/or screen actually make the use of serifs counterproductive. Instead of sharpening our perception, the serifs can confuse it. In addition, the serif style fonts, such as Times, Bookman, or Century Schoolbook, tend to have thin strokes, which fade out when projected on a screen.

For titles and subheadings, a larger font with thicker strokes, including the sans serif fonts, works well in both documents and presentations. Which brings up the issue of size. How big should your font be? Again, it depends on the medium. Here are some guidelines:

For documents: body copy should no less than 10 points and probably no larger than 12 points, although you have to use your judgment. Different fonts of the same point size will look dramatically different on the page. Headings should be around 14 points, and main titles might be 16 or 18 points.

For presentations you project on a screen, using Microsoft PowerPoint, Lotus Freelance, or a similar tool: for the text will show up clearly and be readable, it needs to be no smaller than 14 points, and preferably should be no less than 20 points. Titles and headings should be 24 points. Also, keep in mind that you should avoid having more than seven words in a line of text in one of your slides, and no more than lines of text on the slide. Otherwise, it's too crowded and hard to read.

If you're using something a little more traditional, like transparencies or posters, there are still some guidelines. For clear acetate transparencies, text should be about 18 points, heading should be about 24 points, and main titles about 36 points. For posters and flip charts, make the main headings in letters 3 inches high, your sub-points about 2 inches high, and any text about an inch and a half high.

How wide should a line of type be? Ed Arnold, known as the father of modern newspaper design, says that a line of type should not extend more than about four inches wide. After four inches, the reader's eye tends to become fatigued and there is a tendency to track back to the next line. The longer the line, the more difficult reading becomes and the less energy the reader can apply to understanding the content. Maybe this phenomenon is strictly a function of how we learned to read or the kinds of text we're exposed to, but regardless of its origin, if you create proposals with wide lines of text, you are asking for trouble. In fact, I worked with a client recently whose standard format was to prepare every proposal using the "landscape" mode, running the text clear across the page sideways in lines that averaged about 8 inches long. The proposals were very unappealing visually and extremely difficult to read. And that was too bad, because the content was tremendous. 

Remember that design isn't about making aesthetically pleasing objects. It's about packaging our content in the most efficient way possible. Content is what matters the most, and if design detracts from our audience understanding our message, it's bad design.


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