re: What Font do you use for docs at work?

Anything that isn’t the default in the current version of office is trashy

That would be calibri

Either Calibri or Arial (10-12 pt. depending on what I am working on)

LINK

quote:

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The creme de la creme of legal fonts, Century Schoolbook is used by no less an authority than the U.S. Supreme Court. It's highly readable, yet commands an air of authority with letters that take up more space than TNR. In addition to the Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit uses Century Schoolbook. So does the Fifth Circuit, but with much smaller page margins that don't look as good, and I think we can agree that margins are half the battle.

Courier (and Courier New) Ugh. Courier. Unfortunately, many courts haven't yet received the memo stating that we don't use typewriters anymore. (And yet, according to Butterick, more than a few courts still require briefs to be submitted in a fixed width font like Courier.)

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Interesting read. I'll probably read the source material. I've always used Ariel of TNR 12 point. Maybe I'll switch

Gil Sans MT…. Stands out well and very easy to read.

Rule 1 - if you want people to take you seriously, use a font with serifs. The serifs make reading easier. If you make reading harder, people won't read your document, won't understand it with the clarity you intend, and they are much more likely to get frustrated and put it down.

Rule 2 - font size matters, and should be at least 11pt when preparing research proposals because when converting to pdf the effective font size is reduced and the minimum for most sponsors is 10, though that depends on the font used. Either way, always go up a size when you know the document will be convertd to pdf. If you don't believe me, print a small paragraph in Word and then convert to pdf and do the same. You'll see and can measure the difference.

Other documents should be 12pt or larger. Anyone that gives me docs using less than 12pt without a really good reason - I just won't read it. If you think so little of your audience that you want them to strain while looking at your small font as you try to paint the entire document space black, then your reader will not think much of you in return. This is especially the case with so much presented digitally these days. No excuse for awful typography in a digital document. None.

Hint - this means you need to go into Outlook and change your defaults from the terrible settings that MS has placed in there. Side note - why hasn't MS made Outlook so that it imports to Excel seemlessly, for archiving? Absurd that utility is not available.

Rule 3 - line spacing must be at least 1.15 for readability, and less than 2 unless the specific purpose is to provide handwritten editing; and, much like the serifs, it matters. Margins should never be 1" unless required. Closer to 2" is much better for readability. A line of text should be between around 4.5" to 5".

Rule 4 - Bolding and Italics and Underlining should be for signposting and grammatical uses only. Otherwise it affects readability and you look like an idiot, much like when people speak and add emphasis to words in the middle of statements that then sound as though they are asking a question - you look incredibly stupid when you do that?

Rule 5 - there is no reason to think things change when preparing slides. Readability is readability. Use a serifed font. Send read-ahead copies of slides with white background, black font, in notes layout or convert to pdf and save as 4 slides per page. Present the slides with black background and white font - easier to see when the room is it, as is usually the case.

Rule 6 - in tables, left justify text, rather than centering, again readability. But if numbers are part of a table, usually better to right justify them so they can be tabulated by the reader if necessary.

Rule 7 - Century Schoolbook and Palatino should be your default fonts.

Arial.

We have to use "gil sans" for all documents that leave the office.

Times New Roman

The thing is that when it is printed out on paper, TNR seems to imprint darker.