As a professor and a coordinator for an academic unit in a state university, I often have to produce documents that must exist in different formats. For example, my class syllabus in available online in PDF format but I also need to print it out and pass to students in the first class. Other examples include student handbook, program information sheets, and many other documents. They all need to look good on-screen as PDF files and in print.
As someone who cares a lot about typography, I am in constant search of good text fonts. Because the documents I produced tend to be very text heavy, I want a good-looking text font that can perform well in small font size. For my purpose, I need the font to meet the following criteria:
The font must look formal and authoritative. Because the documents I produce are official university documents, I need them to look official and authoritative. Therefore, anything that looks fun and funny are out.
I want a font that does not look boring. If the first criterion is the only criterion, I can just use pre-installed Windows PC fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Cambria. Many people have done that and I have no objection on their choice. From my point of view, however, all those pre-installed fonts are overused and boring. I want a font that has some flare and more details but not outrageous. For example, even though I like Berkeley Oldstyle a lot, it to me has too much flare and decorations for a text font.
I want a font that is not too expensive. I have a limited budget, so free would be my preference. If I have to buy the font, I want something that is not too expensive.
I have tried many different fonts and eventually I settled with two fonts: Adobe Minion and Calluna.
Adobe Minion is a good-looking font and it looks very format and authoritative. The only problem is that it does not look very unique. It is true that in a quick glance most people would probably mistaken Adobe Minion for Times New Roman. However, I find Minion better looking than Times New Roman. The good thing about Minion is that its size is almost identical to Times New Roman, so you can replace Times New Roman with minimum changes to the overall layout.
Calluna is my new favorite text font. Its regular font is free to download. Calluna has a larger x-height thus make it easier to read in small font size compared to other popular text fonts such as Garamond. However, Calluna’s x-height is not too large as fonts aimed for screen reading. Many screen-reading-friendly fonts tend to look awkward in print because the x-height is too large. Calluna hits a very nice balance between screen reading friendly and looking good on paper. Calluna also has more details and flares that makes it look more distinguishable than fonts such as Minion and Times New Roman.
If you are looking for a text font and you have never tried Calluna, you should definitely give it a try.
最近忙著改學生的報告和論文改得我團團轉。我不知道有多少教授現在還要求學生把報告印出來,我從兩年前就開始要求學生所有的報告都只交電子檔,而且要先經過Turnitin檢查看有沒有抄襲。每天改報告看著Time New Roman實在看到我的眼睛都快要脫窗了。Times New Roman如果印出來在紙上其實一個不錯看的字型。但是一來它實在是太氾濫了,二來Times New Roman在電腦螢幕上(特別是Microsoft Word裡面)真的很不好看,所以我現在收到學生的論文都先把字型換成別的再開始改。
兩年前我寫了一篇文章討論哪些字型適合用來寫英文報告,其中提到不少可以替代Times New Roman的字型。過去這幾年我自己寫的學術論文都是用Minion Pro。Minion Pro並不特別,它看起來方方正正的就像Times New Roman一樣。我相信很多不注意字型的人甚至不會發現Minion Pro和Times New Roman有什麼不同。但是在我的眼中看來,Minion Pro是比Times New Roman好看上很多倍,但是又不會太突出、太有個性,因此用來寫學術報告最是適合。
另外一個我這幾年常用的字型是Lyon Text。我用Lyon Text主要是在寫信函的時候使用,像是給學生的推薦信或是給期刊主編的cover letter。當初會知道這個字型是因為在網路上讀到Typography for Lawyers作者的推薦。Lyon Text比起Times New Roman和Minion Pro都來的豐滿。如果說Minion Pro像是標楷體,那Lyon Text就像是顏真卿的書法體。Lyon Text比起Minion Pro或Times New Roman更有個性。因此,Lyon Text用在長篇的學術論文可能會有點突兀,但是用在個人書信上感覺剛剛好。
第二款我要介紹的字型則是由Tobias Frere-Jones所設計的Whitney。Whitney的由來跟FF Scala有點類似–紐約的Whitney Museum of American Art請設計師Tobias Frere-Jones幫他們設計一套字型,結果就是今天的Whitney。Whitney這款字型的特點是它能夠用在小字體的場合也可以用在大字體的場合。當初Whitney Museum of American Art對這款新字型的要求是它用在印刷刊物像是博物館的手冊或是雜誌的時候要好看,同時把它放大成博物館內部的路標或是其他大型標示的時候也要同樣好看。我個人的觀感是Whitney就是美。Whitney跟FF Scala一樣,在電腦螢幕上看起來很舒服。如果你需要把它印出來在紙上它也同樣的好看。
Sabon(範例)
Sabon是設計師 Jan Tschichold根據16世紀法國設計師Claude Garamond所設計的Garamond字型加以現代化之後的產物。Sabon給人一種古老與權威的感覺。Typography for Lawyers的作者Matthew Butterick認為這是最適合用在訴狀和各種法學文件上的字型。
如果你懶得安裝新字型,Microsoft Windows裡面有兩個內建的字型你可以考慮。其一是無所不在的Georgia(範例),另外一個是Constantia(範例)。根據網路上一位仁兄的說法,在他大學四年中凡是用Georgia字型所寫的報告得到A的比例大過用Trebuchet MS或是Times New Roman所寫的報告。我個人對於Georgia沒有太大的偏好(因為它也被濫用了)。Constantia是Microsoft在Windows Vista, Windows 7和Office 2007/2010中內建的字型之一。我個人覺得Constantia還算是不錯的字型。如果要在Georgia和Constantia之間選其一,我會毫不猶豫的選Constantia。
我想使用PC的人最熟悉的英文字型應該是 Times New Roman (Mac的相對字型是 Time),這是多年來 Microsoft Word 的預設字型。雖然 Microsoft 從 Office 2007 開始已經把預設的字型改成 Calibri ,我想大部分人寫報告的時候應該還是習慣用 Times New Roman 。 (Microsoft 把 Office 2007 的預設字型改成 Calibri 其實有一些小問題存在。 Calibri 是所謂的 sans serif 字型,但是通常印在紙上的文章或是報告用 serif 字型(Times New Roman 是 serif 字型)看起來比較好看。因此很多人寫報告的時候還是用 Times New Roman 而不是 Microsoft 的新字型 Calibri 。如果你不知道什麼是 sans serif 或是 serif 字型,請參考這篇 Wikipedia 的文章。)
Anyhow,為了想要知道什麼樣的英文字型寫報告最好看,我找了十個不同的字型來給各位投票。以下是十種常見的英文字型(有些字型是 Microsoft 內附的,有些是 Adobe 的軟體中內附的,有些是要花錢買的。)你可以從下面的連結下載這十種字型的範例文章 (PDF) ,然後請投票告訴我你覺得那一種字型最適合用來寫英文的報告或是論文。
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