I’ve been reading the “Ultimate Guide to Digital Scrapbooking” the other day and one thing that caught my attention is the topic about FONTS. Here are some well-established tips for finding, storing, and using fonts (based on the magazine):

1. Less is more. A good rule of thum is to stick to no more than three fonts per layout. An exception is if you’re using fonts as graphic element (e.g. highlighting a variety of words in different fonts).

2. Keep it down. Limit your installed fonts to 300 or fewer. Since all your installed fonts are loaded when youopen an application, having 1,000 fonts can really bog down your machine.

3. Be bold. If you decided to mix fonts, mix big. Try typing two different script fonts next to one anther. Not so pretty, is it? If you choose to mix and match, mix a script with a serif or sans serif.

4. Think readability. There’s a reason books use plain fonts. They’re easy to read. Stick to readable, simple fonts for journaling, and leave the funky or scripty fonts for titles and accents.

5. Organize. There are quite a few programs available to help you organize, install, and uninstall fonts. Perform a simple web search for “font organizer” or “font manager” and you’ll be amazed. Some are free, some aren’t. When looking for a download, search and download through a reputable Website like www.cnet.com or www.pcworld.com, where you can see reviews from other users.

6. Budget. Decide how much you’re going to use a font before you buy it. There are tons of free font but sometimes you want something special. Find one for $150 …ouch! Is it worth it? Like any purchase, you need to consider how much you’ll use it. You may fall in love with a decorative font, but will you use it on five layouts and never want to see it again? Maybe, maybe not. However that easy-to-read journaling font might happily end up on every page you create for the next two years.

Posted on August 7th, 2008 by Mich
Filed under: About Digiscrapping