The Art of Using Fonts in Your Writing

Search the Internet for free fonts and you will find literally thousands of typefaces of all types. So how many different typefaces are available when you design a publication, a brochure, an ebook, an annual report or promotional piece? Well, it's not so much how many fonts you can get your hands on as it is how many you should use to make your print or web copy look its best. With the advent of computers and desktop publishing, there are literally tens of thousands of font typefaces you could install on your computer and use to design your publication. Here are some basic things you should know about designing material meant to be read:

1. More than about 2 to 3 fonts in a publication makes it look disorganized. Too many fonts make things look cluttered and disorganized. Plan your font strategy ahead of time.
   
2. Keep fonts in the same font family (Times New Roman, Courier, Lucida, Garamond or other font family). Keeping the fonts in the same font family helps pull your text and headings together visually and helps your document look professional.  
3. Except for title fonts, stay away from very unusual or gaudy fonts. 3D fonts or elaborate fonts like Old English should have a specific purpose for using it. An unusual font supported by appropriate graphics and sparkling text draws readers in and helps you get that first paragraph read. Fonts for titles can be different with regard to serifs, font families, colors and special effects. For instance if your piece is about Western subjects, frontier or nature, you might use one of those log cabin looking fonts or Alamo or something similarly old fashioned. If the text is about city subjects, you might use a neon effects font or something like that.
   
4. Font typefaces provide the body of your copy with a textual color palette. The textual color palette is about the rhythm and clarity of the text; not actually the color of the font typeface. Don't confuse readers by switching fonts in the midst of the flow of your story. Using a coherent font strategy is a way to create a smooth road into your textual argument. 
5. Be careful with coloring your text. You need a really good reason to use blue, red or periwinkle colored text. Use colored text sparingly and only to draw your reader's eyes to important points that lure your reader further into the story you are telling. Just because you can paint your text in every color of the rainbow, doesn't mean you should.
6. Too many fancy flourishes distracts the eyes of your readers. Text and graphics that pull their eyes from the text can break up the flow as they cruise through your publication. Sparse use of headers, fonts, colors, graphics, italics and bold print is better. Save the fancy stuff for key points.
7. Choose serif or san serif fonts and stick to that style throughout. You could mix them up but it's much safer to match serif/non serif headlines, headers, text and inserts. If you don't know what serifs are they are the flourishes that font typefaces either have or do not have. For instance, TIMES is a serif font.  ARIAL and HELVITICA are sans serif (no serifs) fonts.
   

If you've got something to say, it's important to frame it with professional fonts and graphics. It's like framing a picture. The frame sets off the picture and draws your eyes in. In the same way the fonts you use and graphics and pictures frame your story, sales pitch or argument. 

© 2022 by Tom King

References: 

1. How to Choose a Font: 10 Expert Tips for Choosing the Perfect Fonts https://www.envato.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-font/ 

1. Design Shack - How to Pick a Font: 
   https://designshack.net/articles/typography/how-to-pick-a-font/
   

 

Writer's Life: Free Pictures



Shuttle Atlantis - Photo - NASA Archives: # ISSC21E029818

One of the tough things if you are a blogger or if you're writing a book is to find pictures to illustrate your stuff.  A lot of us finally gave up and took up photography and learned to use illustration software.

A long time ago (ten years or so is a long time in the information age), many books were published without any illustrations whatever.  This was because finding illustrations or photographs was hard to do and permission to use those illustrations were even harder to come by. Today's ebooks practically require illustrations and pictures and given how easy they are to come by, there's no excuse not to include something to relieve the eyes of your wear readers.

As time has gone by (that last decade I was talking about earlier), photographers and families of dead illustrators have come to realize that there are a lot of pictures out there and with illustrating software, it's easier than ever to make pictures of stuff you want.  All those old negatives just aren't very valuable anymore - not when a typical book may only make a thousand dollars or so for two year's work. So many have given up their dreams of being rich on Grandpa Bob's old negatives and allowed copyrights to lapse willy nilly.

There are literally thousands of downloadable photos, images and documents out there now.  These vast piles of pictures have been collected and placed online by researchers, universities, libraries and information entrepreneurs who make money off the ads you see when you visit the site.  At most sites, you can download pictures by right clicking them and clicking "save image to". Some have a download button which is also nice. You thus have millions of pictures with which to illustrate your blog, magazine articles, your ebook or even your printed book. And they are free - sort of....well most of them.

Watch out for land mines!  In all of these collections are both public domain and copyrighted pictures and photos of documents.  I've included here a list of some of the key sites you should bookmark on your browser and these will help you avoid copyright entanglements.

The government, it turns out, is not totally useless. They have commissioned and collected a lot of photographs. Many of them were designed to promote government programs, the military and to make whatever the current administration in power look, if not effective, at least re-electable. These contain pictures of everything from an Ice Cream Social at Nasa to a family photo of the Wright Brothers' Uncle George. The two images on this page are both courtesy of the American taxpayer through NASA and the US Forest Service.

Flickr conveniently lists photos offered under the Creative Commons licensing scheme that allows photographers and artists to offer their work free to the public in exchange for photographic credit. Just cut and paste the little copyright tagline as requested to identify the photo and you're good to go.

Another handy site is the Dotgovwatch list of Best Copyright Free Photo Libraries.  It includes free government and public domain photos and offers links to other compilations of public domain photos. 

The government itself offers a compilation page called US Government Photos and Images that's a good bit more Spartan, but has links to huge libraries of government bought and paid for pictures. Again, even here there are photos that are restricted in how you can use them so always check the disclaimer.

The United States Library of Congress has a nifty page of links to photos and images in their American Memory Photo & Document Collection.  This collection also includes photographis of historical documents and images related to historical events.  Well worth checking out!

US Forest Service Image by Ansel Adams 

Famous photographer, Ansel Adams, did a bunch of photos of national parks for the US Forest Service just before WWII.  Many of them are considered works for hire and thus public domain since they were done with taxpayer money. The National Archives has a few of these, but notes that some in their Yosemite collection may still be under copyright.

Public Domain Sherpa is a huge collection of links to other collections. Each link includes a description of the site's contents and a word about copyright related to each unique collection.

When you search for free images, beware.  "Royalty Free" doesn't necessarily mean the website won't charge you to download the image.  Many so-called royalty free image collections make their money charging you for the download.

If you need a lot of graphics type stuff, it's better to buy a collection of images that you can then use royalty free.  Be careful there too. Just because you buy an image disk, don't be so sure it's royalty free if you use it for commercial purposes like on your weblog.  Older CD-based graphics collection often retain certain "commercial" rights. Many newer ones have given up doing that and simply sell you the images for a one time price and thereafter they are royalty free.  Watch the disclaimers on the packaging.

A good writer now has to do so much of the work on his own including finding images to illustrate his work.  These websites make it easier to find good pictures for free. Bookmark these links and get used to searching them and watching for copyright notices.  Your weblog will always draw better if you have a picture with it when you post the link on Facebook. 

If you regularly need images and you're making a living at your writing, it may be worth your time to get a subscription to a royalty free image library.  Anything that makes your writing life easier.

Tom