Choosing a good font can be crucial when it comes to design. Whether you are creating a logo, a poster, an advertisement for your business or a full page of text the font you use can make a difference in both capturing and holding people’s attention. Fortunately there are a huge number of fonts readily available for computer use.
Some fonts are available free while others require payment. For most people’s purposes you can download free fonts that will work for many requirements. 1001 free fonts is probably the most popular site to download from. It is fairly simple to follow the directions to add or remove a particular font from your computer whether you are using Open Office, Microsoft, Adobe or any other application types. The only danger with using free fonts is that sometimes they may be missing some characters or signs and sometimes the ‘kerning’ pairs may not be quite you could wish for.
Adobe fonts are generally recognised as some of the best designed fonts available. Most of them are not free though. For a thorough understanding of fonts and which ones to choose for which project the adobe font site has some very useful information that is well worth looking at.
Microsoft fonts are always a favourite with PC users. Some Microsoft fonts are still available for free but many have been taken off the free list and now need to be purchased. Finding a free Microsoft word compatible font is still fairly easy though, so long as you check before downloading.
Choosing a Futura font is also easy. Again, some are free while others are available on a trial basis. If you only want a special font for one particular project this can be a good option to use.
Whatever font you decide on, or where you look for a new font, always keep in mind the purpose you need the font for. Look at things like weight, form, contrast, height, axis, texture and details to make a decision on what will work for you. You can then decide whether you want to go the ‘free’ way or whether a particular font or fonts are worth investing in for future use.
