** E-Mail Desktop Publishing Design Course **

                  ***** SPECIAL LESSON PART 2 *****

CAUGHT FLAT-FOOTED
I mentioned before you should watch out for subtle curves. Often the
subtlest curves, and the most difficult for 300 dpi printers to render,
are on the serifs of a text face. You'll be happier if your typefaces
don't have arches that need support. For you a a text's face serif
should rest solidly and happily on the baseline. Almost any member of
the Century family fits this guideline.

GET SLAB HAPPY
If flat feet are good,fat feet are even better. Serifs are important
because they help guide the eye along a line of type. You can usually
have less leading with faces that have prominent serifs. Egyptians,
Clarendons, and slab serifs are not exactly the same things, although
their definitions are loose. However they all have thick serifs, often
as thick as the main strokes of their characters. While slab serif
faces are generally a poor choice when you have a lot of text, they
can be used to great effect in flyers or brochures. Clarendons and
Egyptians are better over the long haul, though.
Sturdy slab serifs that can be used effectively at 300 dpi include
Serifa, Glypha, and City. In the egyptian/clarendon empire are
suitable faces such as Clarendon and Egyptienne (of course), New
Century Schoolbook, and ITC Cheltenham.
Believe it, it is possible to be too thin. Beware of modern typefaces
such as Bodoni, Baskerville, New Caledonia, or Meridian, with strokes
that range widely between thick and thin. The @thicks may thicken
unpleasantly and the thins thin out to nothing, resulting in
letterforms which don't hold together too well and have too much
contrast for good legibility.. Be wary also of stylish contemporary
faces such as Caxton, Hiroshige, Weiss, Cochin, or Perpetua. Their
finesse or extreme clarity won't be so fine or clear at 300 dpi.
ITC Garamond is a face that has chronic problems in this regard and
often ends up with broken letterforms. Also keep clear of faces with
strokes that have very little differentiation. Faces like Weidemann,
Bookman, or Souvenir will tend to turn into gibbering, monotonous mush
after your laser has its way with them. Look instead to the healthy
middle ground for text faces or monostroke sans serifs to help you out.
Stempel Garamond (if you must have a garamond), Stone Serif, Trump
Mediavael, Concord, and Melior prove the old adage about moderation.
In sans faces however, you can never have enough of the same thing.
Univers, Futura, Franklin Gothic and News Gothic will provide steady
support.

No, a 300 dpi laser printer is not an imagesetter. But with some care,
you can maximize its ability to produce good looking type.
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For those of you interested, E C & I is published 6 times a year. They
are based in Toronto, Ontario.
Their address is:
E C & I Magazine
Suite 102
505 Consumers Rd.
Willowdale, Ont
M2J 4V8