What font should I use for a brochure for tech-oriented attorneys?

September 17, 2004 10:26 AM

FONTFILTER: Times Roman? Optima? Garamond? Verdana? Something else that I can get for not too much $$$?

I'm trying to decide upon a font for a brochure/prospectus for a technology-oriented service for attorneys.

I'm thinking of formatting the the text in two or four(landscape) columns. This is all decidedly low-tech: Microsoft Word on in OS 9.2. I like Optima, but mostly for Headlines. And thoughts, ideas?
posted by ParisParamus to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Go to MyFonts... most of their fonts are on the inexpensive side, and the site is a breeze to use.
posted by silusGROK at 11:04 AM on September 17, 2004

I've settled on Sabon as the typeface for all my documents. It's very beautiful and very legible. Another good one: Hoefler Text. It should come on your Mac, and is a great-looking, very readable, very 'legal' and yet unique face.
posted by josh at 11:23 AM on September 17, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks, sG. But what I'm really looking for is some subjective, artistic advice, like "just stick with Time Roman," or "Font X coordinates well with Optima, but is easier to read in paragraphs..." etc.
posted by ParisParamus at 11:25 AM on September 17, 2004

This is all decidedly low- tech: Microsoft Word on in OS 9.2.
Wow. Civilization has gotten to the point where this sentence makes absolute sense.

Regarding your question, you might look at the Univers family.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:00 PM on September 17, 2004

For whatever it's worth.....

I was taught in law school to only use Times New Roman for all legal writing. I've rarely seen any other font produced by a law firm/lawyer, including all court documents and even simple letters. Times is considered the "professional" font. Any law firm that you give your brochure to will be used to Times. Also, studies have shown that Times is easier for the general population to read.
posted by Juicylicious at 12:33 PM on September 17, 2004

Response by poster: I was taught in law schoo that I shouldn't have gone to law school..... ;-)
posted by ParisParamus at 12:53 PM on September 17, 2004

Times is a rather heavy-handed redesign of a font called Plantin which you can still find for sale here and there. It may be professional-looking but it makes an awful screen font, so bad that I find it hard to believe so many people are willing to use it on their computers.

Of the commonly available serif fonts, Palatino (aka Book Antiqua) is probably the pleasantest to look at, and goes reasonably well with Optima: both were designed by Hermann Zapf (although he's not been best pleased with some of the digital versions of his designs).
posted by zadcat at 1:28 PM on September 17, 2004

Paris, check out Dean from Textism's little sample portfolio thing of 26 different typefaces. He's a book designer, so he knows his stuff. I have to say all 26 look amazing and readable and dignified, so it'll be hard to pick just one.
posted by mathowie at 2:09 PM on September 17, 2004

Times is so painfully generic I'd suggest anything but. It's not like attorneys will be shocked if you use Garamond (or Palatino). But yes, serif is best for body text.

As for headlines: Optima yay, Verdana nay. Nothing against Verdana - I just think it's best as a screen font.
posted by O9scar at 3:04 PM on September 17, 2004

Adobe has a nice font called Minion (I believe). It's IMO one of the nicest serif fonts out there.
posted by deadcowdan at 7:18 PM on September 17, 2004

My favorite professional looking serifed font is Caslon. Adobe charges a lot for theirs but I'm sure that if you look around a bit there's a nice free faux version. It was Ben Franklin's favorite font, and the one he used to typeset the first printed versions of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. In the words of Adobe: "Caslon is the right choice for magazines, journals, book publishing, and corporate communications." It's a little classier than Times, imo, but shares the problem zadcat pointed out: it looks like crap on screen.

I use Hoeffler at a large point in my RSS aggregator, and while it's my fav serifed font for onscreen display and eminently readable, it's stretched a little bit horizontally to the point it doesn't quite look like it's meant for business.
posted by jbrjake at 10:51 AM on September 18, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks, all. for the advice.
posted by ParisParamus at 12:39 PM on September 18, 2004