By Nithya, grade 10
When writing anything online, from the smallest of short stories to lengthy school essays, I face a seemingly tiny yet perplexing dilemma: what font should I choose? The online library of fonts is immense and diverse, further exacerbating my dilemma. Should I choose caps or lowercase? Serif or no sans serif? Playful or serious? Even within those categories, there is a surplus of options. However, over the years, I have noticed myself gravitating to a few different types of fonts, depending on the situation and my mood.
First, before you read further, you may be wondering: why does this even matter? Why am I reading an entire article about such a trivial debate? Subtle differences in typography can make a huge difference in the way your writing is perceived. For example, imagine that you’ve spent a long time writing a high-fantasy novel. You’ve poured your heart into it, and after a year, you’ve emerged with a 1000-word manuscript — chock-full of epic battles and royal clans. However, when you’re designing the layout for your novel, you make a fatal mistake. You tell your publishers that you want to use Comic Sans. Suddenly, everyone who reads your book seems to neglect to appreciate the elegance and finesse you’ve used to carefully shape your words. The few people who see your book in all its glory have to strive to look past the frivolous aura that the font exudes. Your book is underappreciated because the font you’ve used did not match the content you wrote.
Before we dive into the intricacies of fonts, there is a polarizing debate that has lasted for hundreds of years: serif or sans serif? Personally, I struggle with this as well. There is no doubt that serif lends a certain gravitas and sophistication to your writing, but it can also feel overly restrictive and blocky at times. On the other hand, I find that sans serif can definitely feel very informal, but its casual and fluid sense is sometimes appropriate, depending on the situation. In the end, this issue should really be evaluated on a case-by-case basis — it’s too difficult of a question to provide a direct answer to. In general, though, I mainly use sans serif fonts, with the exception of my trusty Times New Roman.
Without further ado, I will introduce my star lineup of fonts: please join me in a round of applause for Times New Roman, Arial, DM Sans, Georgia, and Lazydog! Each of these standout players have been handpicked for their unique, exceptional characteristics, and I use them frequently in different characteristics.
First up, Times New Roman! This is my second most-used font. In the past, I have had a tumultuous relationship with this font. I used to despise it — I utilized it solely when forced to write essays in school. In my mind, it was unremarkable, overused, and definitely overhyped. However, in the last few years, I have slowly and unconsciously changed my mind. There is a quiet elegance to this font — or maybe I have taken to it after writing so many essays. Either way, I would use it in most situations — short stories, essays, and homework assignments. I only avoid using it when I am trying to be really informal. Otherwise, it essentially fits all situations.
Second, Arial. People may think that this font is overused, but I really appreciate it. Currently, I am writing this blog post in Arial. It fits all situations. It’s casual but not flamboyant or too lighthearted. It’s not overly formal and stilted, either. It was a stroke of brilliance to keep this as a default font; I would use it any day, for any situation. At its heart, it’s bland and neutral, but therein lies its brilliance. Everyone uses it all the time.
Third, DM Sans! This is a fairly new addition. I discovered it in a Canva template and have used it religiously ever since. It has more flair than Arial or Roboto, but is still neutral enough to be appropriate in many situations. It’s definitely more casual than Times New Roman. I would definitely use it for essays, as it’s easily readable when consolidated into large chunks of text. I mainly use it for school assignments, especially online posters and infographics. I find that it contrasts nicely with more showy and decorative fonts — the hint of quiet elegance and flair balances the playfulness of the other font.
Fourth, Georgia. Most do not call this a remarkable font, but it deserves its place in this list. I use it frequently, often cycling through similar fonts as well (such as Playfair Display and Merriweather). It’s a bolder, more modern cousin of Times New Roman. It provides fresh formality to the text, and is a great alternative to Arial or DM Sans if you find yourself a more serious environment. It has been my go-to for a long time; for more times I can count, I have finished a slide deck for a presentation or project at school and realized that I wrote the whole thing with Arial. Arial doesn’t always mesh well with bright colors and images (it can seem overly simplistic or tacky, in my opinion), so I always used Georgia when I was in a crunch. It’s a reliable font.
Last but definitely not least, Lazydog! I think this font may exclusively be available on Canva — I have not yet found it anywhere else. I stumbled upon it by chance when looking for an infographic template earlier this year, and I’ve been using it ever since. It’s a playful all-caps handwriting font, deliberately messy and sporadic. Obviously, it can’t often be used to write the body text of a document, but I think it is a great option for headings and subheadings. It has enough pizzazz to break up the monotony of long blocks of uniform text, but is subdued enough that it can be used for school projects and similar types of presentations. I regularly use it for project slide decks and infographics.
Creating Fonts With Fontself, Illustrator, and Photoshop
It can be a struggle to choose between fonts, and everyone has their own unique viewpoints regarding which font to use in each situation. It’s clear that typography can have a huge impact on your writing. It can change the entire feel and sentiment of the words. It’s important to trust your intuition and pick appropriate fonts. At the end of the day, designing layout and deciding on typography should be a fun pursuit, an extra after completing your writing — so don’t get too stressed out when debating between your favorites! (Take it from someone who has changed their fonts at least five times on a slide deck — multiple times).
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