this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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I work at a consulting engineering firm and write a lot of reports that are read by the public. I have an opportunity to recommend a different font for all of our written documents and am looking for something more modern/fresh than Times New Roman. Also open to recommendations for purpose specific communities about typography/fonts.

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[–] DarthGraben@mander.xyz 9 points 11 months ago (7 children)

It feels like low effort to use the default Office font when there are so many other options, but in my sans serif font tests Calibri ended up looking the best so far. I really didn't want to like it! Curious where you think serif fonts belong? I don't know shit about fonts/graphic design...

[–] RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

FYI, the new official Office default is Aptos. I've been making work docs with it for a few weeks and I have to admit, it looks really clean and technical.

https://medium.com/microsoft-design/a-change-of-typeface-microsofts-new-default-font-has-arrived-f200eb16718d

[–] DarthGraben@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago

I didn't know that! It's going in the pile for further consideration.

[–] catastrophicblues@lemmy.ca 1 points 11 months ago

I like Aptos more than Calibri, but I wish they also had a better Serif typeface than Cambria.

[–] Ashtear@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I write mostly for web, so I don't use serif a lot. I think it's still fine for use with headings.

If your reports are destined for print, it still belongs, imo.

[–] DarthGraben@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What counts as print these days though? When I first started working, we'd get literal boxes shipped to us with 1,000+ page documents inside. Now it's a cloud link that opens with a PDF reader. Does that still count as print? Genuinely curious, because I see conflicting advice depending on if its print or not.

[–] Ashtear@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Anything literally printed on paper. If you're in PDFs and you know your audience is going to be reading it on a small screen, I'd say stay away from the serif fonts. Especially since you mentioned elsewhere that you're concerned about document length; you can get away with smaller letter tracking size on sans.

[–] JoBo 4 points 11 months ago

Calibri is bad for technical documents because you can't easily tell the difference between I and l.

Whatever sans serif you use, choose one that makes the difference legible, like Trebuchet or Bierstadt.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I prefer serif fonts in fiction and humanities, but maybe that’s just my STEM bias showing.

[–] DarthGraben@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

gotcha. Serif fonts seem more readable to me in every setting, but they also look stuffy. Β―\(ツ)/Β―

I really like me a good serif. Computer (Latin) Modern is very satisfying. Also, according to some research, it's up there with the Helveticas and the Arials for readability. Note that 12-point is where serifs flourish (figuratively).

[–] ConstableJelly@beehaw.org 1 points 11 months ago

Calibri is not actually the default font anymore! In M365, at least. Granted, it will be a long time before it's not recognized as such.

My company uses Roboto. I like it a lot, but I think it's gotten pretty popular. Do you know about fonts.google.com? Huge library that you can apply filters to, makes it really easy to browse.