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Here’s How You Should Be Using Typography In Presentations

  • Presentation design /
  • Visual communication

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A good font will probably go unnoticed in what is perceived as an amazing presentation. A bad choice of font, however, is a capital sin in presentation design for which there will be no hiding place. Typography in presentations is a blend of knowledge, creativity and experience.

If you’re unsure of where to get started or you just want to find out how to choose and combine the right fonts (I’m looking at you, Comic Sans user), keep reading.

1. Typography basics: a quick overview

Typography is the visual art of creating and arranging written words. This encompasses everything from fonts, to readability, text positioning and functionality.

In presentations, we use typography to convey ideas but also to create a mood and invoke an emotional response that makes our audience more receptive to our ideas.

Because it’s such an important element that we use to connect with our viewers and readers, it’s important that we’re familiar with some of the different options and “rules” of typography.

2. Fonts are your presentation’s best friend

Let’s start with fonts since they represent the essence of typography for most people. An easy-to read font will help your message reach the audience faster and more efficiently, while the wrong font can annihilate ideas and frustrate audiences.

Some people use the terms fonts and typefaces interchangeably, which is fine in most use cases. Technically, the two terms have different meanings, in that a typeface is considered to be the design of the text, while the font is viewed as the way in which that design is delivered.

In other words : Typeface + Style + Size = Font

For example:

Typeface: Lato

Style: Black

Size: 60 px

With that quick definition out of the way, we’ll be going over the most commonly known types of fonts and seeing how they can be best applied in presentation design.

In a basic categorization, we have Serif fonts, Sans-Serif fonts, Script fonts and Display or Decorative fonts.

Serif fonts

You can identify a Serif font by the small lines attached to the ends of letters.

Using Typography In Your Presentation - Serif Fonts

These are considered to be more traditional or serious fonts, best suited for large blocks of copy, such as a paragraph in a book. So mainly for print.

You can still use them in presentations if they fit the topic and the overall style, preferably in headings and in a larger font size (16+).

Here are some examples:

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Sans-Serif fonts

As the name implies (granted, it’s using French to do so), Sans Serif fonts are the ones “sans” or without the little lines at the end of letters. The more modern, simple looking ones.

Using Typography In Your Presentation - Sans Serif Font

Most people would agree that this type of fonts make it easier to navigate visually, helping move your eyes along the lines of text. These are the ones you’ll want to be using in a digital environment, most presentations included.

For presentation design, these are the right fonts for both text body and headings. Some of the most well-known ones include:

Using Typography In Your Presentation - Sans Serif Fonts

But there are many more to choose from, such as:

A Script font looks like a cursive, handwritten font. The fastest way to identify them is by their connected letters. Some of them are very elegant, while others are fun and casual.

In a presentation, the most commonly used way of using Script fonts is in the second part of a title or in connecting words.

Display / Decorative fonts

The ones that scream “Look at me!”. Original, informal fonts that grab your attention, Decorative fonts are best suited for strategic and scarce usage.

In presentations, you can really create outstanding covers using Decorative fonts in titles and main headings with few words. You can also use them to create a strong emotional impact when presenting an idea in a single word.

Now, for every font you use, you’ll want to make sure you follow to some basic rules of presentations. Keep in mind the following:

Opt for no more than 2-3 sentences per slide If you’re using lists, 6 bullets/points per slide should cover it.Make sure to leave enough space between lines of text.Titles should be at least 28 to 48 pointsBulleted text or body copy at least 24 pointsOnly use caps in headlines and section titles, not in paragraphs.Embed your fonts for safety reasons #section-5a7987f3e7921.separator-border { border-color:#f4f4f4; }

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3. Choosing the right fonts for the right reasons

Because every type of font, and every particular font, looks a certain way and elicits a specific type of response from your audience, you’ll want to be using the right ones for the right reasons.

This would be your first concern. Choose a font that is easy on the eyes and easy to read. No distracting or decorative fonts here. You want your audience to be comfortable reading your slides.

We recommend using Helvetica, Open Sans, Roboto or Gill Sans for example. Use the regular version for your body text if you have little content. If you want your slides to look clean and give the viewer enough negative space, opt for the light versions of these fonts.

Heading fonts

One option for headings is to use the bold version of your body font. You can also use All Caps for headings, to create a sense of hierarchy. You can also use these fonts for presentation divider slides.

Some of our favorite free fonts to use in headings are Babas Neue, Lato and Open Sans ExtraBold.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Title fonts

The first thing your audience will see is the last font you should choose. That’s because you need to have a sense of the overall style you’re creating, where all these fonts come together to support a visually coherent presentation. This ties into the topic of your presentation, your audience’s preferences and your other design choices for color theme, imagery and fonts.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Here are some inspiring Display Fonts for your titles and covers:

4. How to combine fonts

This is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of typography. Choosing two or more fonts to use together can be a real challenge.

The goal is to use fonts that complement each other, but are not too similar. You want them to be different, without clashing.

Here are some tips from Canva on how to perform this selection:

Find a shared quality, such as letter height or width, or an underlying structure;Find fonts by the same designer; look for font families known as “super-families” that come with both a serif and a sans-serif typeface designed specifically to complement each other;Give each font a job, by creating a clear visual hierarchy — showing viewers where to look and what’s important; for example, you can use one sans-serif and one serif font.

You can also use a tool such as Font Pair , that offers you pre-made font combinations before you develop your own taste in combining fonts.

Some of the trending combinations include:

Raleway + Roboto SlabMontserrat + MerriweatherAmatic SC + Josefin SansPlayfair Display + Source Sans ProFjalla One + CantarellAlegreya + LatoUnica One + Vollkorn

5. Where to get fonts

If you’re just getting started or if you simply don’t have enough resources right now to invest in paid fonts, build some experience using default and free fonts.

Default fonts

Presentation making tools come with a series of fonts already available to you. Some of them are more than adequate for creating outstanding presentations. Examples include:

FuturaGaramondGill SansHelveticaRockwell

It’s important to know that free doesn’t always mean just free. Always check the license of the font you’re downloading before using it. There are different licensing options for personal, commercial, or educational use. Also, some fonts have limits on how many times they can appear in print or online or how/if they can be distributed to other parties.

Here are some of the most popular websites for free fonts:

Font Squirrel Google Fonts DaFont 1001 Fonts Lost Type Co-Op Fontfabric FontShop

One of the easiest ways to get a complete sent of Fonts that go well together is to opt for a paid bundle. Like this one:

Once you’ve become an experienced presentation creator, you can experiment with individual font families and combine them to get the best visual effects for your content.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with fonts. Even the most boring fonts can create amazing slides if you combine them the right way and use colors, dimensions and spacing to bring them together.

Your audience will be grateful for a pleasant visual experience and they will connect with your ideas more effectively if you choose the right fonts.

And, if all else fails, you have us to guide and help you design amazing presentations for business or personal projects.

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Are you ready to take your presentations to the next level?

Our team can help with everything from researching your project, writing the content, designing and building your slides, and even creating handouts.

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Typography basics and their impact on creating engaging presentations

No matter how exciting our ideas are, they are often only seen to be as good as the medium we use to communicate them. Especially while delivering a presentation, using written points is one of the proven ways to reinforce your core message. While a good choice of font often goes unnoticed, using a bad font in a presentation sticks out like a sore thumb. This is where typography plays a pivotal role.

If you have ever wondered what typography is or been unsure about font colors and combinations more than once, learning more about this area of design can help improve how you present your ideas.

So what is typography?

Typography can be described as the art of arranging text in a way that’s legible and easy to understand. It deals with the type of font, size of text, color choices, and other such aspects that help evoke certain emotions from the viewer. Using typography tips when creating your presentation enriches the visual aspect of your slideshow and helps your audience follow along better. Modern presentations tend to use minimal text on slides, which makes it all the more important to pay attention to typography.

The important aspects of typography

In order to get familiar with typography, some of the common elements associated with typography have been listed below:

Typefaces vs. Fonts

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

These two terms have often been interchangeably many times, but they actually mean two different things. Typeface can be described as the collective name given to a family of fonts. Garamond or Times New Roman are examples of serif typefaces. Font refers to widths, weights, and styles specified within a typeface. Times New Roman Italic or Garamond 12pt are examples of fonts.

White Space

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Adjusting space between lines of text, called “leading,” makes your content more legible.

White space, as the name suggests, refers to the blank space around portions of text on a slide. More often than not, white space is often overlooked while creating slides. The right use of white space can ensure that the text in your presentation is legible and stands out instead of blending in with the slide background.

As you can see in the example above, adjusting your leading to add more space between lines of text will give your content more “breathing room” and make it easier to read.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

In this example, the title and the text body have been aligned to differentiate them more clearly and make the title more eye-catching.

Alignment is the process of laying out different elements of text in a presentation. While aligning the text in your slides, keep in mind those who will be viewing the presentation and follow the appropriate industry standards.

Consistency

The use of typefaces in a presentation should remain consistent. Viewers prefer familiar patterns of slides with coordinated design, and using different font styles in each slide will make your presentation look unprofessional and disjointed. Most design advice recommends using one font for all headers and one complementary font for all the body text.

The purpose of hierarchy is to help create a clear distinction between different pieces of text that should be noticed first by the user. This next section dives into the details of how hierarchy can be implemented through typography.

Implementing hierarchy through typography

Since it is one of the first things noticed by a viewer, size is the obvious differentiator to establish a hierarchy between the typography. There is a clear rule that bigger texts in a slide have the highest importance while the small texts carry lesser importance.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

In the example above, using music to influence is the important aspect you would want people to focus on. This has been highlighted with a bigger size text so that the viewer sees it first and gets an idea of the presentation immediately. While there are other ways to establish hierarchy, size can be the crux to differentiate between text in a presentation.

Font weight can be defined as the thickness of the font in reference to the height of the font. Making part of the text bolder or lighter is an easy way to maintain hierarchy in typography. Font weights range from ultra-light to extra-bold.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

For instance, in this slide above, the words “Stephen King” are emphasized by using a different font weight. Using fonts with the same weight throughout the slide doesn’t highlight the importance of the keywords or phrases.  

With almost all information now communicated visually, color plays a more vital role in presentations than ever before. Using color theory to choose the appropriate color can prove to be the key to a successful presentation. Color is a great way to play with the hierarchy of the content since there is a lot of psychology involved.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

A lighter yellow shade has been used here to highlight the statistic.  

Using a lighter and darker shade can be a simple way to create a hierarchy. Use contrasting colors for your background and fonts to make your text visible. A good rule to keep in mind while picking colors is that warm colors pop and cool colors recede.

Positioning

The positioning of your text and its alignment can help highlight headings and subheadings in a presentation.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Center alignment, along with heavier font weight and bright text color, here adds more emphasis to the presentation topic.  

The way your content is placed can change the way it is perceived. For instance, center alignment adds a sense of importance and more emphasis. This is the reason title slides generally align to the center.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Using all capital letters can help make your titles stand out.  

Use different case styles to differentiate different types of content. Use uppercase or title case styles sparingly to add extra emphasis. While it is not recommended to use all-caps for your main text, this is an effective way to differentiate between different headings and subheadings and establish a reading hierarchy.   

Use regular sentence case for long headings and text passages in your presentation. Uppercase and title case styles can be used for the slide title and other short headings.

Typography is a part of presentation design that is often overlooked or not given the importance it deserves. Skillful use of typography can help visually guide the user through your slides in an intuitive manner and maximize the understanding of the information communicated in the presentation.

While it may seem like a daunting task at first, deciding on the best typography for your presentation can be easier when you keep some of the points above in mind. Think about your design from the perspective of the audience: will they get the message viewing the presentation? When you design your presentation with your message intentions and your audience needs in mind, typography choices can help make sure your ideas are heard.

Want to learn more about effective presentation design? With all this information about typography, keep that momentum going and check out our color theory blog . Combine typography and color theory basics to create beautiful slides for your next presentation!

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

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Slide Fonts: 11 Guidelines for Great Design

  • “Those slide fonts were awesome! So innovative! So artistic! So shadowy and provocative!”
  • “I didn’t notice the slide fonts.”

It always surprises me when I encounter a speaker who wants their slide fonts to stand out, as if it were reasonable compensation for a lack of compelling content.

Great design of slide fonts means that they are easy to read and otherwise not noticeable. You want your message to stand out and be memorable, not your slide fonts.

In this article, we look at simple guidelines to help you make wise font choices so that you, and not your fonts, are memorable.

Slide Font Guidelines

You know that you should use visual slides, and thus minimize the amount of text on your slides. That’s not the focus of this article, however.

If you must have text on a slide, then how can you best present that text? The table below summarizes the guidelines, starting with the two most important. Read on for the details and lots of practical examples.

Guideline #1: Make it readable… from the back of the room with a poor projector and tired eyes at the end of the day.

  • Slide Titles
  • Slide Fonts
  • Slide Charts
  • Rule of Thirds (Layout)
  • Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity
  • Slide:ology
  • Presentation Zen
  • Clear and to the Point

Where do you design your slides ? On a desktop computer with a sharp 24-inch monitor? On a laptop, perhaps? Is your head within 18 inches of your screen? Is the room lighting good? We design slides in fairly optimal conditions with rich displays providing excellent contrast.

But your slides are rarely viewed in optimal conditions . The screens are small. The rooms are large. The projectors always seems to be a little dimmer and a little blurrier than you would like. And someone in your audience was up late last night. Or suffering from allergies. Or behind on their optical prescription.

When you add it up, the text on your slides is much harder to read than it seemed when you created them. Be smart. Design your slides with the largest and easiest-to-read fonts possible.

Guideline #2: Be consistent throughout your slide deck.

What sends a better message?

  • A slide deck which resembles a patchwork quilt, with font sizes, faces, and styles randomized on every slide.
  • A slide deck which uses a consistent visual theme, including text which looks the same on the 1st slide, 17th slide, and the last slide.

Consistency matters. When your slide deck has a consistent design, your audience doesn’t have to “work hard” to understand the slide. They are free to focus on your message instead.

Guideline #3: Use large fonts.

Every time I teach my presentation design course, I conduct a test using the slide below. I ask everyone to stand, and then begin to call out line numbers from the top of the slide (1, 2, etc.), as I reveal one line at a time. I ask the students to sit down when they can no longer comfortably read the text on the slide. Can you guess what the results are?

Most people in the room are standing until about line 8 or line 9 (18pt or 16pt). But the really interesting thing? At least one person in the room always sits down at line 5 (28pt). Every single time I teach my course.

What does this mean? For the conditions where I teach (room size, screen size, projector quality, etc.), I need to stay above 28 point font if I want everyone in my audience to be comfortable.

30 point font seems absolutely enormous when I design my slides on my desktop computer, but yet this is the size that works for my whole audience.

Guideline #4: Choose three sizes at most.

So all your text is going to be large. Great. Does that mean it all needs to be the same size? Yes and no.

  • Body text should be the same size throughout the slide deck.
  • Slide titles should be a little larger than the body text, but the same size from slide to slide throughout the deck.
  • Text used in tables and figures can be a little smaller than body text.

This 3-tiered system is familiar because other writing follows a similar pattern. For example, in a typical book, headings tend to be larger than paragraph text, and paragraph text tends to be larger than the text used for annotations.

For a course I recently taught, I used 44pt for titles, 36pt for body text, and 30pt for annotations:

The room that I teach in may not match the one where you speak, so you may have a different threshold.

Guideline #5: Use sans serif fonts.

Font faces are generally classified into two categories:

  • Serif faces are composed of line strokes which vary from thick to thin, and have ends that terminate with decorative serifs.
  • Sans serif faces  are composed of line strokes with an even width and have plain ends.

Serif fonts are generally acknowledged as superior when printed, so they are a great choice for your handouts. However, the serifs and thin strokes don’t always look crisp on digital displays. So, while you can find success with either serif or sans serif fonts, as a general guideline  I recommend you adopt sans serif fonts  for your slides. They have better readability across a variety of display conditions.

Guideline #6: Choose a font face appropriate for your audience and message.

As a general guideline, choose a formal, professional font . Any of those shown above (Tahoma, etc.) are fine for this purpose. These fonts won’t undermine your credibility, and that’s the goal.

Font styles to avoid include artistic, playful, funky, script, and many others… unless your audience or message deems that this is a match. If you choose to break this guideline and use a specialty font (for branding reasons, or to tie into your overall theme), then understand the consequences. It won’t be as easy to read. It may be distracting. Only you can judge whether it is worth it.

Guideline #7: Use one or two font faces at most.

Just like the guideline for using consistent font sizes, you should use consistent font faces. Either:

  • Choose a single face for all of your text in a slide deck (I do this most often), or
  • Choose one face for titles and one for all other text

Using any more than two font faces, or using them inconsistently from slide to slide can make your slide deck look disjointed and awkward. Not good.

Guideline #8: Never use word art, 3-D effects, shadows, warping, etc.

When I see slides with these types of effects, speakers usually claim that they are “trying to jazz up their slides” or “add some visual interest”. This is very misguided.

These font decorations reduce the readability of your text considerably and accomplish nothing.

Guideline #9: Use bold, italics, or underlines sparingly.

Bold, italic, and underlining are all used to emphasize text, but you don’t need to use all three. In fact, you should definitely not use all three.

  • Underlining tends to reduce readability because it cuts through lowercase letters which have descenders, like gjpqy .
  • Italics looks very sharp with some fonts (especially serif fonts), but it looks poor with others (especially sans serif fonts). So, if you are using sans serif fonts (like you should), italics may not be the best option.
  • Bold tends to work the best of the three for emphasizing key words or phrases. This is what I use most often on my slides.

Whatever your preference, choose one for emphasis and use it sparingly. If you emphasize too many words, the net effect is that nothing is emphasized.

Guideline #10: Ensure high contrast between text and background.

Two universally successful strategies for high contrast are:

  • Black text on a solid white (or off-white) background
  • White text on a solid black or dark blue/green background

Sadly, many speakers use a variety of lower contrast combinations:

  • Grey text on either white or black background
  • Light blue/green/red/yellow/brown on a white background
  • Any text on a wildly textured background

Don’t make your audience strain just to see the text.

Guideline #11: Use additional colors for emphasis only.

Start by choosing a single text color, and use it consistently across all slides. Optionally, add a complementary color, either for emphasis or for titles, but use it consistently throughout your slide deck.

Never randomly change colors from slide to slide or within a slide with the misguided goal of “adding visual interest”. You will just confuse your audience.

I recommend simple color schemes which offer high readability:

What do you think?

Do you have any slide font tips to share?

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10 comments.

Even with all those tools available in the Web, designed to ease the choosing of fonts and colors and palettes; even with all the relentless messages stating “less is more”, this kind of post seems always necessary. And not because people’s bad taste in design, but because it’s easy to forget guidelines like #3 or #10.

Great post!

Very well said, Enzo.

Excellent post! Another point to watch is that unless you embed the fonts in a PowerPoint presentation they may be replaced if that one is not on the computer used with the projector. See: http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/pptblog/embedding-fonts-presentation-non-standard-fonts/ and http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00402_Troubleshoot_font_problems.htm

Great advice Andrew. I strongly agree that readability is the greatest need!

I do see a potential use for shadows or outlining sometimes though, because those effects can increase readability in some cases. For instance, if you use black text and some of your slides feature full-screen photos, a white shadow (with a very small offset, unlike the example shown) or a white outline can make the text stand out better if some of the photographs are much darker than most.

My own tip is to use a very common font! If you use a relatively uncommon one – even Gill Sans – you risk the font not being present on the computer that runs your slideshow at the event. (Or, if you’re presenting online through something like Adobe Connect, the font might not be available in that system.)

Coincidentally, I just published some advice about fonts , and featured a short video of what can happen if you choose unwisely. I also feature a list of fonts that are installed on almost every system (if you use PowerPoint).

So I’m completely with you when you suggest picking a font people won’t notice!

Richard and Craig: I echo your comments about choosing a common font. This pitfall _almost_ happened to me once. I had used a non-standard font, and then put my presentation on a colleague’s laptop (laptops were rare back then). One hour before I was due to speak, I realized that all of the spacing was wrong. I was lucky… I had time to fix it.

Great hints, Adnrew. I’d just add to consider using handwritten fonts – they are getting popular, just see some latest Slideshare on design. Of course I don’t mean to use Comics Sans :). But there are some nice subtle and readable fonts such as “Segoe Script” or “Amatic”.

Be very cautious when using handwritten fonts, as described in Guideline #6 above. If you use one, then know that legibility and readability have decreased. That’s not good. Be sure that the artistic effect you seek is worth it. (It rarely is.)

Andrew, thanks for reply. I agree with being cautious. However, I think readability depends a lot also of size, contrast – as you mentioned in other points. Script fonts are good if they are applied big, e.g. used in titles. And for small details it always safe to use formal well readable fonts like Calibri, Arial, Helvetica. All depends on context :).

Great work! (Dammit! 🙂 ) Can I quibble about number two? There’s a limit to how standard slides can be without making me want to kill myself (and the presenter). After all, if you take that tooooo far you end up with the corporate template – just to make sure everything is the same.

I know you said it’s a guideline not a rule, but… 😉

You can always quibble about anything you read on Six Minutes. In fact, please do! Critical discussion and debate is how we all get better. As to the point you are making… Sure, it’s not the end of the world if the text on a few slides is a different size or a different face. Guideline #2 is really arguing that consistency is better than randomness, not that a font imperfection will destroy a presentation. Skilled presenters know when to deviate from guidelines, and that’s fine.

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How to Choose the Best Font for PowerPoint Presentations

Saikat Basu

Saikat Basu

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An image on a slide may speak a thousand words, but you do need text to explain the finer details. And that’s where choosing the best font for PowerPoint presentations becomes a critical exercise. In short, if you want to make a flawless PowerPoint presentation , you must pay attention to your fonts.

The interesting thing about fonts is that each has a personality. It’s like the three-piece suit that will be out of place at a barbeque but is perfect for an evening at the Savoy.

Best font for PowerPoint presentation

Want to learn more?

Take your Microsoft Office skills to the next level with our comprehensive (and free) ebook!

Why is choosing the right fonts so critical?

Slides aren’t like the pages of a book. They are billboards on the highway. 

When you run through your slides, they will linger for just a few seconds. The words on the slides have to capture interest, send the right message, and support the visuals in those few seconds.

Fonts influence your audience by setting the tone and atmosphere of the presentation. The right choice of fonts or font pairings can make your text stand out by separating it from other elements around it. Typefaces are also brand symbols that help the audience relate to it through the presentation.

Before you get into the deep end, let’s learn the distinction between two major font types.

What are serif and sans serif fonts?

Times New Roman is the classic example of a serif font. The letters have tiny extensions that appear to connect them together in words as one letter leads to the next. 

Newspapers and magazines use serif fonts for body text as they are easier to read. Serif fonts have distinct line heights that make them more legible in dense copy.

Best font for PowerPoint presentation - serif font

They lose this clarity if you pack them together in the body. That’s why designers recommend sans serif fonts for titles, headings, and captions in your slides.

Best font for PowerPoint presentation - sans serif font

The critical font pair: title vs body text

All Microsoft PowerPoint presentations by default start with two fonts — one font for the headings and one for the body text. This font pairing decides the entire look of the presentation. The theme plays an important role in the font choices and even blank presentations give you a theme to build upon.

The first question you may have to answer is how big your fonts should be? The simple answer is that it depends. Factors like screen size and room size dictate the limits of font size. Font sizes can hinge upon you emailing the presentation or delivering it live on stage or on a PC screen in a remote meeting. 

Also, all fonts have an optimum size for legibility. Arial is clear at 12pts while Times New Roman is readable at 10pts. 

Most presentation experts recommend these size ranges. The thumb rule — a larger font size with less text on screen is always good.

The default slide in PowerPoint starts with 60pts for section headers and 24pts for body font.

  • Header Font: Between 26 and 42 point
  • Body Font: Between 18 and 24 point

You can use the same font for both, but that can limit the visual impact of your slide.

10 tips for choosing the best font for PowerPoint presentations

Never sacrifice readability for style. With that motto in mind, follow these Microsoft PowerPoint tips to choose the best fonts for your business presentation or any other.

1. Choose two fonts

Three fonts can be a crowd. Choose two fonts wisely and use size, contrast, and color to combine them for visual interest. Font pairing is a critical part of PowerPoint presentations and you will have to spend a lot of time on this decision. The second font shouldn’t be too unlike or too similar to the primary typeface where you miss the distinction.

Tip: There are many font pairing tools available on the web. But play the TypeConnection typography game if you want to get better at it yourself.

2. Choose standard fonts

You want your presentation to look the same on all devices. Choose from standard fonts and you won’t have to rescue your slides from turning into a mishmash on another screen. You can be more imaginative if you are presenting to children or at Comic Con, but standard fonts are the safest bet always.

Tip: Here’s a complete list of fonts available on Windows 10 .

Best font for PowerPoint presentation - times new roman

3. Avoid script fonts and decorative text

Script fonts like Lucida Calligraphy or Gothic fonts like Century are always difficult to read. You can use them if the topic of the talk demands it.

4. Create visual interest with serif and sans serif fonts

As we emphasized earlier, serif and sans serif fonts have their own advantages and disadvantages. You can pair them and tap into their strengths.

Best font for PowerPoint presentation - Corbel

5. Select color and create contrast

Go for font colors that are a part of your brand. Using color swatches and precise Hexadecimal or RGB values ensures colors stay consistent across slides. 

Also, you might have to check your slide for accessibility for all as someone in the audience can be color blind and may not be able to decipher red or green.

Tip: There are many color palette generators available on the web for free. Try Coolors .

6. Have contrasting text and background colors

Fonts must stand out against the background. The higher the contrast between the two, the better the readability across the room will be. Use the color wheel to pick the background and the font colors. Opposite colors on the color wheel clash with each other and have the maximum contrast. For instance, orange on blue.

Always use the same background on each slide. Text against white backgrounds is not legible in a larger room. For the best results, opt for dark slides with light-colored text.

Tip: Go through a gallery of well-designed PowerPoint templates or use PowerPoint Designer as a shortcut to grasp the interplay of contrast.

Best font for PowerPoint presentation

7. Less is more with caps and italics

Don’t capitalize all the letters in the body text as it is difficult to read. Selectively use caps for acronyms and for emphasis. Similarly, choose italics sparingly for quotes or highlighting the names of books, authors, and journal titles, etc. 

You can make a creative choice by using italic text sparingly for impact or you can also substitute them with subtle formatting to the standard fonts.

Tip: Caps and italics may be able to work with specific fonts, but you may need access to those fonts. You can use Picsart's text editor to play around with text that may suit your presentation better.

8. Limit the use of animated fonts

Animated fonts can be distracting. Avoid animating your text or use it only if it serves a functional purpose. Ask yourself if it adds clarity to your data or is just a cute effect.

9. Keep an eye on font tracking and kerning

Learn these two typography terms and you will have an easier time placing your words on the slide. Kerning adjusts the spacing between two adjacent letters in a font. Tracking adjusts the space between all letters together. Both influence the readability of text.

For instance, you can avoid using narrow or condensed typefaces. Instead, pick a thicker font and tweak it with tracking and kerning within PowerPoint. 

For more on changing the spaces between text, read this Microsoft support article .

Tip: Play the KernType typography game to get familiar with the basics of the two principles.

Best font for PowerPoint presentation - Kern

10. Make interesting shape effects

It doesn’t always have to be just about fonts and simple colors. The Shape Effects panel on PowerPoint gives you a lot of control over the finished appearance of text on the slide. 

For instance, you can adjust the transparency of the letters. You can also “texturize” the words by using pictures to fill the words instead of a solid fill color. 

  • Select the word and right click. 
  • From the context menu, click on Format Text Effects.
  • The Format Shape panel is displayed on the right. 
  • Select Text Options > Text Fill & Outline.
  • Choose Picture or texture fill. 

You can now use an image or any texture to decorate your words. Picture or texture fills are a creative way to use standard fonts but still make them stand apart on your slides. Of course, never overdo it. 

Tip: Shape effects go well with thicker fonts.

Best font for PowerPoint presentation

15 of the most versatile fonts you can use in PowerPoint

These fonts (and a few more) are versatile because they are standard fonts and are available on both Windows and macOS. You don’t have to go after fancy typefaces just yet. Focus on your layout. Use the design pointers from the above list and give your slides an attractive makeover.

  • Franklin Gothic
  • Times New Roman
  • Palatino       

Think of typography in PowerPoint as design

Practice with your eye. Play one font against the other for interesting unions. Typography isn’t just for selecting fonts and using them to occupy your slide with words. It is an essential design element in any place where visual communication matters. You can design your presentations faster once you work out how fonts work together and learn a bit about color theory. 

Want to learn more about how good design comes together? Start with some of the basic and advanced PowerPoint techniques .

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Saikat Basu

Saikat is a writer who hunts for the latest tricks in Microsoft Office and web apps. He doesn't want to get off the learning curve, so a camera and a harmonica claim an equal share of his free time.

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when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Design Principle 4: Typefaces and how to use them

What I will be covering in this guide is not about specific typefaces, which typefaces are better when paired, or choosing what font files to use.

by Darian Rosebrook May 20, 2018

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It has been a while since we last talked about design principles. That was never the intention to get away from teaching it.

If you missed the last three design principles, here they are again.

Design Principle 1: Guides, Gutters, Grids

Design Principle 2: Scale and Proportion

Design Principle 3: Visual Design Systems

This guide:

We are talking about being able to effectively choose what typeface you want to use solely by the characteristics of it.

It’s best to study some of the famous typefaces and understand what makes them great.

If you need help knowing some good typefaces to go study, check out this typography video from the futur

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

If you ever had to look at your list of fonts, I’m sure you’ve experienced that empty feeling, not knowing which to pick from your extensive inventory of all 1000 fonts you downloaded from creative market’s free weekly resources.

There’s something called “decision fatigue” that immobilizes you from making decisions if you are presented with too many options. In UX Design, this inability to make a decision because there are too many is called Hicks Law .

Let’s learn what characterizes these typefaces and what sets them apart so that you can make more informed decisions of which to use and when.

The key to good typography and type pairings is contrast.

But for us to have good contrast, we need to learn what contrast is in type design.

Type Classification

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Typography has existed since the birth of written language. Even what we naively think of when imagining “modern typography” is so old that you wouldn’t guess that the invention of printed type was almost 600 years ago.

The evolution of typographic technology from the handwritten language to modern digital typefaces has undergone some massive changes throughout these last few centuries.

There are specific periods in time that classify certain typography, and many of these typefaces are named after people in those time periods. Even typefaces from today get the same treatment, so if you’re wondering why some are named funny, look to the creators or who’s handwriting they’re modeled after.

Technological advances in how we use typography during these time periods have also helped shape how we use and classify type.

Here are several of the different classifications of type, you can check out more here from fonts.com .

Humanist Serifs

Humanist typefaces are reminiscent of traditional calligraphy and Roman lettering. Made popular in the 15th and 16th centuries (1400–1599), this classic style of letters that are used today are modeled after the movements of the hands when written.

They have a lighter upward stroke and stronger downward stroke, serifs and terminals that feel natural to the hand, and their lines read close to what classical handwriting styles looked like.

Transitional Serifs

Mainly made popular by John Baskerville, these letterforms are sharper in contrast than their humanist counterparts. Through the advances in printing tech, we were able to create thinner lines and bolder bolds which allowed for us to have this style.

These have been used to replace the Humanist Serifs, but in person, most of where we find them are printed in books and old publications. Serif fonts have been falling out of style, but shouldn’t be forgotten.

Modern Serifs

Modern and Neo-Classical typography introduces an even bigger contrast in thin and thick strokes of the letterforms. This was originally thought to be an update to transitional but became it’s own classification as the lines of the forms became straighter and more contrasting.l

People were outraged at these few newer styles. Which is mind boggling to think that large amounts of people could ever get outraged over somebody’s design of something… 👀

Egyptian and Slab Serif

Through traditional print advertising, we introduced heavy weighted serif typefaces that feel a lot like sans-serif letterforms with the addition of a thick and heavy serif.

They can sometimes be a mono-weighted serif, where every thick line feels uniform, or they can really play off of the weight of the serifs.

Either way, these have been mainly used as header-typefaces. They’re really good for grabbing attention.

Humanist Sans-Serif

Humanist sans-serif type was widely used in the early 20th century (the 1900s) which kept a lot of the characteristics of humanist serif where the widths of the strokes are close to their seriffed counterparts

Sans-Serif fonts were another thing that people got outraged about. For some odd reason.

Serifs were believed to create drag and muddle up the spaces inbetween letters. We created typefaces without the serifs to help legibility, but fundamentally changed how we look at these simple letters.

Transitional Sans-Serif

Transitional sans-serif typography is one of the most widely used forms out there. If you haven’t heard of Helvetica, then you’re probably one of the few that hasn’t. They are very upright and straight-forward as forms go.

You’ll find that most of the weight and thickness of the letterforms are very uniform. There’s some daft wizardry going on with almost all typefaces, but these transitional sans-serif ones were good at remaining ambiguous and anonymous through time.

Geometric Sans-Serif

Geometric letterforms are also from the early 1900s where most of the letters are built from geometric shapes. They give very sharp and uniform letters which allow for much contrast when paired with other type classes.

Hand Script

This is exactly as expected.

This is hand drawn letterforms for use in digital and printed typography. They’re mainly based off of what we would see in today’s lettering pieces. They give an element of human touch where one would normally be using machines to produce the typography.

The edges of text

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

The lines that matter when choosing what typeface to use depends on what we plan to use them for.

Though this is a simplification, what we look for when choosing the type to use for our projects is how legible the letterforms will be.

In the text, we are looking for four lines:

How high is the x-height?

The legibility of typefaces is determined by their X height. This is the height of a lowercase ‘x’ in the text. The higher that line is in relation to the baseline, the bigger the text feels.

If you have a low x-height, it can exaggerate the tall letterforms of the ascenders (check our type anatomy chart below), but make it harder to read the body of text.

How tall is the cap height?

A tall cap height can even out a high x-height. But this line determines how wide the characters feel. A condensed typeface can have a tall cap height and narrow character width, making it very attention-grabbing.

What is the width of the characters?

This helps determine how comfortable it is to read across lines of text. Narrower letters mean a more cramped feeling.

Where is the beardline/descender-height?

This will help you determine how much space is generally between the letters for the point size. (see anatomy chart below)

Type Anatomy

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

This diagram is done by Martin Silvertant whom I chose to use rather than making my own diagram here. He explains a lot of what these letterforms are made of, and what each part of the letters are.

When you’re going through and looking at which type to use, you need to know what you’re looking at. This is especially true if you have to find an alternative to a typeface and need to compare that one to the other.

This also helps you understand what sets some type apart from others allowing you to pick better-contrasting typefaces and type classifications.

Study this chart (or click the designer’s name for a bigger version of these charts) to understand what you are looking for in the designs.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

One of my favorite parts of typography is ligatures. Though I’m not studied in making my own typefaces or ligatures, ligatures to me are a beautiful mix of form and function. These above are from the typeface Mrs. Eaves.

Letters, when they get close together have conflicting properties. Think of the crossbars of the letter t next to a letter f, or two terminals at the top of the ff. This chart below, from Martin again , is very helpful for understanding what and why some of these ligatures are used.

Ligatures have been used to help type remain legible when difficult letters are placed next to each other. Without these ligatures, you might have really weird, conflicting spaces or lack of space between letters.

Some countries rely on ligatures to remain legible, while others, they are merely for decoration.

The general rule is that you should let the typefaces decide what ligatures to use when typing out any of those letter combinations. (These are the standard ligatures.)

The discretionary and contextual ligatures are there for better flare within your text, but remember that design is something that helps us be better communicators. If something doesn’t look quite right with the use of the ligature, maybe keep the text without it.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Numerals are hard to understand because they pair specifically with the size and usage of type styles.

The type is built from the usage of capital usage. They can be built to pair well with Capitals, with full cap-heights. They can be monospaced to fit better within columns. Then you have numbers that are built with proper ascenders and descenders that fit within sentences better. Then we also have numerals to match text set in small-caps. Each of these are things to think about when choosing a typeface because sometimes, you don’t get a choice when you choose one.

Definitely look at samples of letters and numbers mixed to determine if you are going to use the numbers within the typeface or choose a different one.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Type Families and Super Families

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Some typefaces are built as families where you’ll get more than one weight, more than one style, or with some typefaces, every style imaginable but classified within the same family.

When you’re looking for a good type pairing, a lot of times, the typefaces have other weights or siblings (typefaces within the same family but in different classes) that allow you to avoid trying to pair unrelated typefaces together.

So when looking at a particular one to use, look to see what options are available within the same family. This may save you a lot of unnecessarily wasted time.

Type Crimes

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

I see a lot of people who don’t know how to use a font on their system and play around with the characteristics that are built into the digital files.

People tend to try to manipulate the type to do things that it was never intended to do, and by manipulating them, you actually change the proportions that are designed in the actual widths of the strokes.

To see how to properly edit type, which takes a lot of practice, you can find a preview to The Futur’s typography class preview which explains editing type.

Mixing Typefaces

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

So from here, I leave it to people with more experience in type to show you examples of good type.

What I intend to show you through these are how people found contrast like what we went through today.

Look at these through that lens and find what makes the pairing great.

Do they have a particular x-height or cap height that makes the combination great?

If you don’t agree, what characteristics do you think could be improved?

Look at these combinations, and hopefully, these pairings inspire you enough to start thinking about pairing your own.

A lot of them are available through Google Fonts which is an open source library that many of them are free to use commercially. (definitely worth it to go get a few of these font-files for your own use)

This is a collection of great type pairings using Google’s font library where each typeface combo is paired with a piece of classical art.

The team at Made By Side Car put together a small series of type, where they paired some of the better google fonts together.

And here’s another Google Font combo of someone’s 100-day type challenge.

And another.

Take these as a springboard to use as inspiration. Feel free to use their pairings or use what you learn from here and there to pair your type.

If you’re looking for more resources on learning about typography

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

You can take a look at our library of typography books. These are the books that have helped many of us in the Compass Community get to our level of skills with type.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

Also, check out the book Thinking with type which is a big inspiration to what I taught today. It goes into everything you need and probably has the best section ever about learning how to use grids in typography.

So hopefully this has been helpful to you to get better at looking at type objectively when trying to pair two different typefaces together.

If you have any questions send a reply and I’ll help you out., and until then…

Have a great weekend!

— Darian Rosebrook , Compass of Design

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

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Basic Principles of Typography for Presentations

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

In the world of design, there are some "rules" you should follow. However, you still need to be creative. As Pablo Picasso said, "Learn the rules like a pro, break them like an artist" — and typography is no different. Being a central component of well-designed presentations, the typography you employ and how you present it matters. Let's talk about basic principles of typography for presentations

What Is Typography?

Typography is the art of using text to make content clear, legible, and visually appealing to readers. From font style to structure , appearance to formatting, there's a lot to consider when creating presentations.

Typography is the "body language" of your presentation, which is why you need to optimize readability, functionality, and positioning.

  • Choosing the right typography will help you develop brand recognition. If you use a specific font for your website and signage, this is a good jumping off point when designing your presentations. Consistent typography allows you to establish your brand's voice and personality. Do you want your audience to view your presentation as serious, fun, casual, etc. or a combination?
  • Typography will affect how readers perceive and digest content. This is especially important when you're not presenting the deck itself but sending it out for others to review. You need the presentation to do the talking for you. This can influence audience decision-making and conversion rates.
  • Good writing and verbal presentation skills hold the attention of your audience. However, good typography aids your writing by either calling attention to certain things or, more subtly, not calling attention to itself in the form of amateur, clunky text styling.

The Type of Presentation Matters

There are two primary types of presentations; those given in person and those sent out for your audience to read on their own. When developing your presentation, think, "will the slides be read as a sole source of information, or will they be projected and elaborate upon?"

If you are physically presenting a deck, the slides should have a lot less text. Sharing too many details on one slide will confuse and overwhelm your audience. Use short sentences and bullet points to convey your most important message. This will allow you to elaborate verbally and portray your presentation's themes without distraction.

Tips for Presentations

Less is more.

Stick with one or two complimentary typefaces for your presentation to ensure a more consistent tone. When selecting these fonts, avoid those that are overly ornate. Creating a presentation that comes off as unprofessional or even somewhat cheesy is the worst thing you can do to establish credibility. If you choose a decorative font, make it easy to read. Simple fonts aren't dull, so don't be afraid to use them! It's more about the words you use and how you design your message. For example, playing with text size and color contrast can have a dramatic effect when trying to highlight keywords.

Outsource Your Presentation Design

Designing a presentation is a time-consuming process. If you lack design experience or adequate time, your best option is to hire a freelance presentation designer. That way, you can remain focused on what matters most—your growing business and upcoming presentation!

Function Over Fashion

Don't underestimate the importance of function when it comes to text. Yes, a presentation should look good, but the message can quickly become lost if it isn't legible or pleasing to the eye. White space is your friend, avoid large blocks of text, and choose legible fonts.

There is a lot to consider when creating a presentation, and typography is just one component. From visual hierarchy to data visualization, a lot goes into the development of a winning presentation.

‍ Partner with Kristian Olson Art & Design to help you take your upcoming presentation to the next level! I have over 20 years of experience delivering next-level designs for a variety of clients. Get in touch with me today!

Ask questions. Get a quote. You know what to do.

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10 Best Fonts for Presentations: A Comprehensive List

10 Best Fonts for Presentations: A Comprehensive List

Presentations , Unlimited Graphic Design

Curious to know which fonts can transform your presentation from ordinary to extraordinary? There are many fonts capable of doing that but you need to choose the best font type for your presentation . So let’s get started:

10 Best Fonts for Presentations

Garamond, a classic serif font, is renowned for its timeless elegance and readability. With refined serifs and a well-balanced design, Garamond imparts a sense of sophistication to presentations. This font is an excellent choice when you want to convey a traditional and professional tone, creating a visually appealing and polished look for your slides.

Palatino, a classic serif font, exudes sophistication and readability. Its well-defined serifs and balanced letterforms contribute to an elegant and timeless aesthetic. Palatino is an excellent choice for presentations where a touch of traditional style and formality is desired, enhancing the visual appeal of your slides.

Proxima Nova:

Proxima Nova is a modern sans-serif font celebrated for its clean and versatile design. With a harmonious balance between rounded and straight letterforms, Proxima Nova presents a contemporary and professional appearance. Its adaptability makes it suitable for a wide range of presentation themes, ensuring a sleek and polished visual impression.

Segoe, a sans-serif font developed by Microsoft, is known for its clean and modern look. With rounded letterforms and balanced proportions, Segoe offers a friendly and approachable aesthetic, making it ideal for professional presentations. Its versatility and legibility across various screen sizes contribute to a seamless visual experience.

Corbel, another Microsoft font, is a clean and straightforward sans-serif typeface. With its minimalistic design and even spacing, Corbel ensures clarity and readability in presentations. Its modern appearance adds a touch of professionalism, making it a reliable choice for a clean and contemporary visual style.

Rockwell, a slab serif font, brings a bold and robust presence to presentations . With its thick and distinctive serifs, Rockwell conveys a sense of strength and impact. This font is an excellent choice when you want to emphasize key points and create a memorable visual impact in your slides.

Bentham, a serif font with classical influences, adds a touch of historical elegance to presentations. Its well-defined serifs and balanced letterforms create a refined and sophisticated look. Bentham is a suitable choice when you want to infuse your slides with a sense of tradition and formality.

Fonseca is a contemporary sans-serif font with a geometric influence. Its clean lines, rounded shapes, and generous spacing create a modern and friendly appearance. Fonseca is a versatile choice that brings a sense of freshness and simplicity to your presentation, ensuring both style and readability.

Bell MT, a classic serif font, is characterized by its timeless elegance and refined details. With well-crafted serifs and balanced letterforms, Bell MT adds a touch of sophistication to presentations. This font is an excellent choice when you want to convey a sense of tradition and professionalism.

Tahoma, a sans-serif font designed for on-screen legibility, combines clarity with a modern look. Its sturdy letterforms and even spacing enhance readability, making Tahoma a practical choice for presentations. The font’s neutrality ensures that your content remains accessible and easy to follow.

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10 Most Popular Fonts for Presentations

Raleway is a modern sans-serif font known for its clean and elegant appearance. With its thin, sleek lines, it exudes a contemporary and professional vibe, making it ideal for presentations. The minimalistic design ensures clarity and readability, enhancing the visual appeal of your slides.

Lato is a versatile sans-serif font recognized for its friendly and approachable style. Its balanced letterforms and open spacing contribute to easy readability, even in small font sizes. Lato’s warmth adds a touch of friendliness to your presentation while maintaining a professional and polished look.

Calibri, a default font in Microsoft Office, is widely chosen for presentations due to its clear and straightforward design. Its rounded shapes and moderate spacing result in a friendly yet professional aesthetic. Calibri is a safe and practical choice, ensuring that your content remains easily accessible to a broad audience.

Verdana is a sans-serif font designed for on-screen readability. Its bold and simple letterforms make it an excellent choice for presentations, especially when projected. The generous spacing between characters enhances legibility, ensuring that your audience can effortlessly follow your content, even from a distance.

Georgia, a serif font, brings a touch of sophistication to presentations. Its robust letterforms and distinct serifs make it suitable for conveying a classic and formal tone. Georgia is an excellent choice when you want to add a bit of traditional elegance to your slides while maintaining readability.

Poppins is a contemporary sans-serif font with a geometric feel. Its rounded letterforms and ample spacing create a friendly and modern look, making it well-suited for a variety of presentation styles. Poppins add a touch of personality to your slides while ensuring clarity and visual appeal.

Coolvetica:

Coolvetica is a stylish and edgy sans-serif font that injects a sense of creativity into your presentations. With its bold letterforms and unique character shapes, Coolvetica is perfect for conveying a modern and unconventional vibe. It’s an excellent choice when you want your presentation to stand out with a touch of artistic flair.

Roboto, designed for Google, is a versatile sans-serif font that combines neutrality with modern aesthetics. Its clean lines and balanced proportions contribute to a professional and contemporary look, making it suitable for a wide range of presentation topics. Roboto excels in delivering a clean and polished visual impression to your audience.

Helvetica is a versatile sans-serif font known for its clean and modern design. Its neutral and balanced letterforms make it a timeless choice for presentations across various themes. Helvetica provides a professional and straightforward appearance, ensuring clarity and readability in your slides. Its simplicity allows for easy integration into a wide range of design styles.

Avenir, a contemporary sans-serif font, combines elegance with modernity. With its rounded letterforms and well-proportioned design, Avenir offers a sophisticated and approachable look for presentations. The font’s versatility allows it to adapt seamlessly to different visual styles, making it a popular choice for creating polished and professional slides with a touch of modern flair.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Fonts

Clear legibility:.

Ensure your chosen fonts are easy on the eyes. Opt for clear, readable typefaces to prevent any visual hiccups, allowing your content to be effortlessly absorbed by your audience.

Visual Consistency:

Stick to a consistent font style throughout your slides. Choosing a clear distinction between titles and body text maintains a visual uniformity that guides your audience smoothly through your presentation.

Strategic Contrast:

Create visual interest by smartly pairing fonts. Use bold, attention-grabbing typefaces for headers, complemented by more subtle, easy-to-read fonts for the body. Striking the right balance adds a touch of sophistication without overwhelming your audience.

Brand Alignment:

Align your fonts with your brand identity. Consistent use of brand-appropriate typefaces reinforces a professional image and helps with brand recognition, ensuring your presentation resonates with authenticity.

Universal Accessibility:

Prioritize fonts that enhance accessibility for all. Choose designs that are clear and legible, considering factors like color contrast and font size to ensure inclusivity across various devices and audiences.

How to Install Custom Fonts in PowerPoint

Step 1: download the custom font.

  • Visit a reputable website offering a range of custom fonts, both free and paid.
  • Explore the font collection and pick the ones that suit your preferences.
  • Download the font files in a compatible format, such as .TTF or .OTF.

Step 2: Incorporate the Custom Font

Both Mac and Windows have different ways of incorporating fonts, let’s see both of the ways:

How to Install Custom Fonts in PowerPoint For Windows:

a. Extract the font files from any compressed folders, such as .zip.

b. Right-click on each font file and choose “Install.”

How to Install Custom Fonts in PowerPoint For Mac:

a. Launch Font Book, the default font management application on macOS.

b. Drag and drop the font files into the Font Book window.

c. The fonts will automatically install, becoming accessible in PowerPoint.

Step 3: Reboot PowerPoint

Close and reopen PowerPoint to ensure the newly installed fonts are recognized and ready for use.

Step 4: Implement Custom Fonts in PowerPoint

  • Open the PowerPoint presentation where you wish to employ the custom fonts.
  • Select the text box or text element you want to format.
  • Navigate to the “Home” tab on the PowerPoint ribbon, and locate the “Font” section.
  • Click on the drop-down menu for “Font” and opt for the custom font you want to apply.

You will be done with installing the custom font in PowerPoint.

Frequently Asked Questions:

The best font for presentations is often considered to be a sans-serif font like Arial or Helvetica. These fonts are clean, easy to read, and work well on slides, ensuring clarity and professionalism.

A good font combination for a presentation involves pairing a sans-serif font for titles and headers with a serif font for body text. For example, pairing Arial with Times New Roman can create a visually appealing and balanced look, enhancing readability and engagement.

The best fonts for PowerPoint 2023 are Raleway, Lato, Calibri, and Verdana. These fonts are standard choices, providing a modern and clean aesthetic for your slides.

The font in a presentation matters significantly as it affects readability and audience engagement. Choosing a clear and professional font ensures that your message is conveyed effectively without distractions, helping to maintain the audience’s focus on the content.

Some popular newspaper fonts include Times New Roman, Georgia, and Garamond. These fonts are classic, legible, and convey a sense of tradition, making them well-suited for the printed page.

Professional fonts often include Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, and Garamond. These fonts are widely accepted in business and academic settings for their clarity, readability, and timeless appeal, making them suitable for a variety of documents, presentations, and other professional materials.

Wrapping up

Fonts matter, and so does your presentation! Upgrade your slides with the best fonts and take them up a notch with Design Shifu’s expert touch. Click to book a demo and see how our presentation design services can make your content shine!

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20 Most Popular & Professional Presentation Fonts to Use in 2024

presentation fonts

Table of Contents

Presentations are important business communication tools or materials that marketers and professionals use to share improtant business ideas, progress reports, information, facts, or figures with a group of people.

Although there is always a presenter available to present the information and coordinate discussion among the audience. The majority of the time during presentations, the audience also read through the presentation slides which makes it imperative that you use the right fonts for presentations.

Fonts play a crucial role in the readability of your presentation slides. Beyond this, they also set the tone of the message and effectively convey the message of the presentation to increase its overall success .

Hence, you must choose the right PowerPoint fonts for your Powerpoint presentations. In this article, we have identified the 20 best and most popular presentation fonts to use to create professional presentations this 2024.

Keep reading!

Brief Overview of the Best PowerPoint Presentation fonts

Presentation fonts play a significant role in the way the core messages in the presentation are conveyed and understood by the audience. This is why you need to be intentional about the type of fonts you choose for your presentations.

The four main types of fonts that you most certainly choose from include the following: Serif font, Sans serif font, script font, and decorative font.

1. Serif Fonts: These are classic fonts designed by William Caslon in 1734 and have been around since then. This font is known for having decorative flicks or an extra tail at the end of each letter.

Serif fonts add a sense of timelessness and tradition to a brand and are popular among law, finance, journalism, and jewelry-making businesses among others. Popular Serifs include Times New Roman, Garamond, Century, Bodini, Lucida, Bookman, and many more.

2. Sans Serif Fonts: These are modern, sharp, and stylish fonts without the extra tails at the end of the letters. They are well known for their clarity and legibility and make the perfect choice for brands looking to appear futuristic.

Popularly used in technology, gaming, consulting, fashion, automobile, and manufacturing industries. Popular sans serif fonts include Arial, Calibri, Helvetica , Tahoma, Open sans, Futura, Lucida Sans, and many others.

3. Script fonts: Script or Cursive fonts are characterized by curvy, stylish typography element that makes them look similar to handwriting.

Depending on the type of script font you use and what you are using it for, some can be highly decorative and feminine while others can look more plain and retro. Some of the popular script fonts include Dancing Script, Lobster, Pacifico, Allura, Parisienne, and many more.

4. Decorative Fonts : Slightly similar to the Script fonts, Decorative fonts are decorative versions of Serif, Sans Serif, Script, and other font types that are mostly used to capture attention and create unique designs. Some of the popular decorative fonts are Cooper Black, Abril Fatface, Gilroy, Bourton font, and many more.

7 Tips to Consider When Choosing the Best Fonts for Your Presentation

Your choice of fonts for your presentation determines its success which is why you need to be very intentional and well-informed about the different types of fonts available and how they all impact your presentation’s success.

To choose the best fonts that increase your presentation readability, legibility, and easy comprehension of your message, we have identified 5 key tips you should consider when choosing the best fonts for your presentations. They include:

1. Choose a simple font

good presentation fonts

The general idea of choosing a professional font for your presentation is to aid readability and get them to stick with you. Using complicated (hard-to-read) fonts like most scripts and decorative fonts will make your presentation design look chaotic, making it hard for your audience to read what’s on your slides.

However, simple and easy-to-read fonts like serif and san serif fonts, contribute to the overall aesthetics of the design and encourage readers to pay attention to you. Check out the perfect presentation design ideas for inspiration.

2. Prioritize a Sans Serif font over a Serif font

best fonts for powerpoint presentation

Although we have earlier stated that you should Sans serif and serif fonts over the script and decorative fonts. However, if you are faced with choosing between a San Serif font and a Serif font, you should choose a sans serif font over a serif.

This is solely because the sans serif typeface is much easier to read on-screen compared with the serif font style that has a tail at the end of the letters. Using a modern sans serif font can enhance legibility, readability, and audience attention .

3. Avoid all caps fonts

best presentation fonts

Although several findings have reported that using capital letters in writing conveys a feeling of power, the audience may perceive this as you shouting at them. In addition to this, using all-caps fonts can also be difficult to read, especially in a block of text.

4. Choose a font that looks good in big and small sizes

best fonts for a presentation

The general rule for choosing font sizes in your PowerPoint presentation is not to go below 24 points for the title and 14 – 16 points for the text. To increase readability, keep in mind to choose a font that looks good when thin or thick to aid clarity and quality irrespective of the size even when scaled from 120 points down to 12 points.

5. Choose a different font for your titles and headings

powerpoint presentation fonts

For better readability, consider using different fonts for your title, heading, and subheading fonts to create better emphasis and visual hierarchy. However, keep in mind to not have more than four (4) fonts in your presentation to create a cohesive and visually organized design. The fonts should also be bold and have a bigger font size.

6. Choose complementary fonts

fonts for presentation

Presentations have to be visually appealing with all design elements well coordinated. If you looking to create balance and coherence in your design, consider using fonts that complement each other to make the design stand out . You must also ensure that this font stands on its own but look good when used together.

7. Choose the right colors and contrast for your font

best fonts for presentation

Colors evoke power and can significantly impact how the font appears in your presentation. Remember that the whole idea of choosing the right fonts is to aid readability and engage your audience. Choosing the right colors and aiming for a clear contrast ensuring that the colors don’t clash. Check out the finest guide for how to create an attractive presentation design .

20 Most Popular and Professional Fonts for Presentations in 2024

Here are the best 20 professional fonts to use for your presentations in 2024.

Presentation Font #1: Verdana

best fonts for poster presentation

Verdana is highly recognized as one of the best fonts for PowerPoint for its optimization for digital display and its easy compatibility with almost all Windows and Mac computers. Interestingly, Verdana is a recent font created by Mathew Carter in 1996 for Microsoft which further shows you should choose it for your presentation.

Verdana’s best features include its wide spaces with tall lowercase letters and counters making it an excellent choice for body text, which aids readability.

Presentation Font #2: Tahoma

professional presentation fonts

Tahoma is one of the most unique, custom fonts developed in 1995 and has grown in popularity among presentation designers. Although it looks similar to Verdana, Tahoma is more tightly spaced and formal than Verdana. An exciting feature of Tahoma is that it’s easy to distinguish each letter from another.

For example, the lowercase letter “i” is different from the uppercase “I”, making it easy to eliminate errors in presentations. Tahoma is particularly a good choice for presentations due to its readability and clear letters.

Presentation Font #3: Calibri

scientific presentation fonts

Calibri is a popular sans-serif font that has made it to the list for its simple, clear and subtly rounded edges. Although it has been replaced in Microsoft Office 2007 with Arial, it is still the ideal choice Sans Serif PowerPoint font for its universal readability

Presentation Font #4: Georgia

fonts for a presentation

Like Verdana, Georgia is also one of the recent fonts designed by Matthew Carter in 1996. As a popular modern serif font, Georgia features thick and thin strokes with tall lowercase letters giving a classic look which makes it an excellent choice for your professional presentations.

Interestingly, Georgia is known to be a good alternative to Times New Roman only that it’s slightly larger.

Presentation Font #5: Palatino

The Palatino is one of the popular presentation fonts designed by Hermann Zapf in 1949 originating from the Italian Renaissance.

Influenced by his calligraphic works, the Palatino font was created primarily for advertising, print media headings, and low-quality paper and small-sized prints. Palatino’s solid and wide structure greatly enhances readability especially when read or view from afar, making it an excellent choice for your PowerPoint presentations.

Presentation Font #6: Corbel

cool presentation fonts

As a font designed with the sole aim of providing clean text without clutter on the screen, the Corbel font makes an excellent presentation font to consider in 2024. Corbel is a humanist simple sans serif font released in 2005 for Microsoft’s clear-type rendering and specifically designed for LCD monitors.

Its clean and clear characters with wide spacing don’t clutter the screen and make a great choice for presentations that calls for massive contrast. Although it is slightly similar to Candara fonts, Corbel’s lowercase I’s and ‘J’s have box dots instead of circles on Candara making them more assertive.

Presentation Font #7: Gill Sans

best fonts for a powerpoint presentation

Gill Sans is a classic presentation font that gives a warm and friendly appeal to PowerPoint presentations like Helvetica. If you are looking for a font that best pairs with a simple font like Times New Roman, there’s none better than Gill Sans font.

An interesting feature of Gill Sans font is its multiple options and compatibility with various other fonts. It also contains legible prints that make it easy for your audience to read the presentation from a distance.

Presentation Font #8: Garamond

fonts for history presentation

Garamond font was created in the 1500s by Claude Garamond, making it one of the oldest fonts. Rather than being a font itself, Garamond is a style of font that offers users many unique options such as Adobe Garamond, Monotype Garamond, and Garamond ITC.

Its commanding and well-structured characters provide a great contrast between the title and text, making them a perfect choice for body text.

Presentation Font #9: Futura

good fonts for a presentation

Futura is a popular go-to font for many brand logo designs. Created in 1927, Futura’s variants and versatility make it a popular don’t choice for PowerPoint presentations.

This typeface projects the feeling of adaptability and forwardness with a touch of modernity making it an ideal choice for headline and body text.

Presentation Font #10: Lato

google presentation fonts

Lato is a basic sans-serif font with a modern appeal and normal and bold weights that help offset the light in different designs and headings.

It is a versatile font with nine weights ranging from hairline and thin to light to bold, making it a perfect choice for any presentation. Lato works well as a sliding header or the main header and its ability to convey professionalism makes it a good choice for your pitch decks.

Presentation Font #11: Roboto

fonts cannot be saved with the presentation

The Roboto typeface is a basic sans-serif font that is modern, easily recognizable, and approachable. It features professional, easy-to-read, and well-designed characters that you can use across different presentations. Roboto is most appropriate for body texts and pairs easily with other fonts.

Presentation Font #12: Century Gothic

free presentation fonts

Century Gothic is a sans serif typeface with a geometric style released by Monotype Imaging in 1991.

It was designed solely to compete with the Futura font and has a similar style to Futura but a larger x-height. It is mostly used in advertising, displays work, and is a great choice for headlines, and small quantities of text.

Presentation Font #13: Segoe

fonts used in powerpoint presentation

The Segoe font is Microsoft’s choice for its logo and other marketing materials since the days of Windows Vista.

Though it shares similarities with Verdana, its warm, inviting looks with wider space and heavier letters make this family of fonts a perfect choice for your presentation headers.

Presentation Font #14: Montserrat

what are the best fonts for presentation slides

Montserrat is a new geometric sans serif typeface designed by Julieta Ulanovsky, an Argentine graphic designer in 2011. Inspired by posters, and signed and painted windows from the first half of the twentieth century in the historic Montserrat neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Montserrat is one of the popular font choices that fit well in headings and PowerPoint slides.

Its bold characters help your slide titles and headers to stand out to your audience, showing the audience what to expect each time you move to a new slide.

Presentation Font #15: Open Sans

best fonts to use for a presentation

Open Sans is a sans serif typeface designed in 2010 by Steve Matteson and is a commonly used font for body paragraphs due to its legibility. It was designed with open forms, neutral but friendly appearance. As a basic sans serif font, Open sans provides a perfect way to visualize the larger pieces of text you might include on a slide.

It has excellent legible characteristics in its letterforms and was optimized for print, web, and mobile interfaces.

Presentation Font #16: Abril Fatface

best presentation fonts google slides

Abril Fatface is a slab serif font that has a bolder appearance that helps to grab the attention of the audience. It is a great font for creating eye-catching headlines on your presentation slides but keeps in mind that it should only be used with short headings or pieces of text.

A bold font like Abril Fatface can be hard to read if used in paragraphs or longer sentences. It pairs nicely with fonts like Helvetica or Verdana. A good alternative for this slab serif font alternative is Rockwell or a bold Trocchi.

Presentation Font #17: Helvetica

business presentation fonts

Helvetica is a widely used classic sans serif font that has retained its spot as a popular people’s choice for a good reason.

Developed by Swiss typeface designers, Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann in 1957, Helvetica is an excellent font choice to use for headers and titles in live presentations where some of the audience might be far away from the front row (viewing from a distance.

To effectively communicate and create presentations that stand out, ensure that you use Helvetica as a bold text on headings and titles.

Presentation Font #18: League Spartan

best powerpoint presentation fonts

League Spartan is a new simple, modern, and geometric sans serif font with a bold, uniform, and minimalistic nature that makes it a good font choice for headings and titles. League Spartan works best as a header in infographics or cartoon-style presentations with the sole purpose of converting difficult or complex information into easy-to-remember points.

On a general note, League Spartan’s simplicity makes it a great choice for infographics. However, keep in mind that using League Spartan in bold settings can make paragraphs and letter bodies heavy. So stick to the normal font when using it.

Presentation Font #19: Playfair Display

good fonts for presentation

Playfair Display is an open-source chic and highly fashionable serif font designed by a Danish designer, Claus Eggers Sørensen who developed it off of Baskerville font.

It has a strong box with the majority of its character placed in between the baseline and X-height. Playfair Display has high contrast between its thick and thin lines making it an ideal font choice for logos, strong titles, and headers.

Presentation Font #20: Raleway

fonts presentation

Raleway is an elegant sans serif typeface designed by Matt McInerney in a single thin weight with a display face that features both old style and lining numerals.

However, due to popular demand, it was given a heaver and italicized version for users. While the bold and light versions of Raleway have been designed to be very versatile, its italicized version help increases legibility with the off-centered markings.

Raleway font can be used anywhere from bold headers to lighter body texts in a presentation. Keep in mind that when written in bold and capitalized text, it makes a good fit for titles and header font that can easily capture the audience’s attention.

Presentation fonts like colors do the magic trick on the visual appeal of presentations. Without the right choice of fonts, your presentation may fall apart and fail to engage your audience during presentations.

Although there are no hard rules when it comes to choosing the right fonts for presentations, however, we have identified the top 20 most popular and professional fonts to choose from. Nonetheless, take your time researching more fonts that you can use beyond the ones we have identified above.

when creating a professional presentation how many typefaces are recommended

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How to choose the right typeface: A comprehensive guide

Paul Simiyu

The choice of typeface is one of the most important decisions you make when designing, for example, a flyer or a book cover. Besides the cover photo or illustration used, among the very first reading impression that a reader gets from a book is the choice of a typeface used. Therefore, the typeface used is important in preparing readers for the content and reading experience they would have.

How you choose your typography is likewise important as it aid conveys in conveying the message together with the content.

As there are numerous ways of choosing a typeface, in this guide we will cover the commonly used ways for typeface choice, a comprehensive overview of fonts: their different categories, how to use them, and even where to find free font downloads.

Related: Typography Made Simple: A Step-By-Step Guide

Before we get started there are a few grounds that we need to establish on typeface and fonts:

Typeface functionality

It is recommended, to consider the functionality of the typeface from the start. It is important to always think about function as well as the form of the typeface.

The intended message of a typeface to your target audience, shouldn’t be interfered with your preference for a given typeface.

So, any design decision on typeface selection must result from effective design thinking.

Pairing typeface families

The process of pairing typefaces is by defining the aim of the project together with the message that needs to be conveyed. The general result needs to be harmony and contrast.

Related Articles: Fundamental Tips You Need to Master in Logo Design

Testing Typeface

You wouldn’t know if a typeface is suitable until you’ve seen it at the right size and tested it. Therefore, always test your type to determine the relevant one to your project.

You need a context on how it will look and feel.

Test whether the character spacing, stroke weight, letter height, character shapes, and direction of the axis (either vertical or angled) are in order.

For any font you’re considering for passages of text that include both letters and numbers, try this test: Type out a capital I, a lowercase L, and the number one.

If two or more look identical, then your readers might find it strenuous over certain words or letter/number combinations.

A font or a typeface?

You may have heard the text you use in design projects referred to as both fonts or typefaces. Do the two terms mean the same thing?

Technically they’re different, but in most cases, they are used interchangeably. Here is a guide that might help:

The typeface is the design; the font is how that design is delivered.

typeface + style + size = font

A font is what you use; a typeface is what you see.

The unique style or design of the alphabet that we identify by name – say, Helvetica or Arial would be considered the typeface.

To elaborate further, a typeface is used to define a family of fonts.

When those letters are varied in size or weight for example 10 point bold, that would be considered as a typeface. So 10 pt. Helvetica light and 24 pt. Times Helvetica Medium would be two different fonts, but the same typeface.

Font Types Classification

In this guide, we will focus on four basic font categories that will be helpful to understand when you’re going about choosing a suitable font, combining fonts for your design project, or discussing your type choices with other people.

There are many classifications, each with their own historical and technical definitions. Some classifications include Old Style, Blackletter, or Humanist.

Serif fonts have a small extra stroke ‘tail’ or lines attached at the main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letters. They’re generally considered much easier to read in long copy and printed works due to their distinctive nature of typeface.

The common serif typefaces examples include Times New Roman, Trajan, Georgia, and Garamond.

‘Sans-serif’ literally means ‘without serif’  – these fonts don’t have the extra stroke at the ends of letters. Sans serif fonts have been adopted mostly on the web block text, blog posts, and web pages. The reason behind it feels more modern and looks great even at lower screen resolutions.

Scripts are what we might think of as cursive- or handwriting-style fonts.

They are more based on varied fluid strokes. Script fonts come in many different styles; elegant, fun and casual, to even hand-drawn.

Decorative / Display

When you hear a font categorized as decorative, display, or novelty, it all means literally that – the font is meant to get your attention. This font classification is often more unusual in appearance and should only be used for a specific effect or purpose.

Why the font choice is important

Different occasions call for different apparel.

It will look absurd for you to wear a bathing suit to a job interview; likewise, you wouldn’t want to wear a suit and tie during your vacation on the beach either.

There’s an element of appropriateness you consider.

Based the apparel you wear, people might make assumptions about your style, your personality, your socio-economic background, your age, or the kind of impression you want to make (rightly or wrongly).

Font choices also often set the tone for the whole design and can influence viewers’ feelings toward and interactions with your design.

Typography often provides the first impression that individuals weigh and judge the rest of the design by so your font choices need to be functional and appropriate.

Do the elements of your font clash, or do they complement each other? Are they effectively communicating the qualities you want to project?

These considerations are part of what makes choosing fonts such an important part of the design process, one that should be approached thoughtfully.

Related Article: Graphic Design Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Choose a Font

The Typeface Basics

Every typeface has its own mood or personality. It may be it’s serious, casual, playful, or elegant. You might need to determine what a particular font communicated and whether that fits with your design project.

In the case that the font is communicating doesn’t match the message of your overall design, then there will be a visual disconnect for the readers or users of your design.

So, your first concern in choosing a font for a project should be to match the message or purpose of your design. Before you even start browsing through fonts, brainstorm on some of the qualities or characteristics that you want your design to communicate.

That way, when you’re choosing a font, you already have in mind what font you need to match with the context. In the case you get stuck. Run an analysis, does the font support the qualities of my brand or complement the purpose of my design?

Consider the most effective font choice that does that.

Consider context and audience

When browsing fonts, it can be easy to get caught up in all the fun and interesting choices.

A rule to note is don’t let personal preferences get in the way. A font you might think is distinctive or stylish may not be useful or appropriate for your project or the audience your working for.

Where and how your design will be viewed should also be included in your font choices.

For instance, a business card design will need a font that’s easily readable at a small size. Or social media graphics, mostly viewed on mobile devices, would require fonts that display well on small screens.

Also who is viewing your design is important.

Who Is your audience or what is your demographic? Will your font choice resonate with them?

Think of functionality

More than the mood or character of a font, and the relation to context; suitability is more of a functional matter.

One of the most common mistakes that beginners make is not realizing what various font categories are most suitable for instance, body typefaces versus display typefaces.

Will the body typeface you’ve chosen actually work where you’re intending to use it? Will it be practical and easily readable in the context of your design?

Body typefaces – are used in body copy: book text, magazine or newspaper text, website content, any lengthy passages. These fonts are easy on the eyes and easy to read. It’s important that they? re not distracting, so users can easily skim or scan the text.

This is the category that fonts like Times New Roman and Arial fall into.

Display or decorative typefaces – on the other hand, are never suitable for reading at length. These are the type of fonts that scream, ‘Look at me!’

They come in various degrees of usefulness, from the bold, all-caps fonts that might be used for headlines, to the fonts that are very literal or obvious.

These types of fonts can be fun and have their uses, but good design, especially design intended for business or professional contexts, often has more subtlety than that.

It is important to remember, display typefaces differ from body typefaces in that they’re not easy to read at length and should be used sparingly and with purpose. If you have doubts about whether a certain font is suitable for your design, it’s always a safe bet to pick a more neutral font.

Note, display fonts can make a big impact when used in the right way, but when used incorrectly, they can make a design look busy and amateurish or completely unreadable.

Font readability

One of the ways to communicate graphically is through text in your design, so readability becomes an important quality in a font to make sure your audience can respond to your message.

How can you tell whether a typeface is readable, other than your own visual assessment?

There are a few tips to determine font readability:

Size  You’ll want to choose a point size that fits your design context.

A business card will need a different-sized font than an event poster.

Designing something that might be viewed on mobile devices – social media graphics.

For instance, try and type a few texts using the font you’ve considered and then reducing the size. If it is still easy to read at a smaller size, then it will probably perform well on small screens.

X-height – The distance between the baseline of type and the top of the main body of a font’s lowercase letters. In the case x-height is in proportion to the typeface capital letter it may improve readability even when it is at a smaller size.

However, it would be a challenge to read if the x-height and the capital letters cannot be distinguished. This makes it even more difficult between font cases.

Spacing – Changes in the spacing around the letterform so that it’s appropriate for your design are a huge factor in enhancing readability.

Spatial manipulation in type spacing can be a very important tool. In most cases, generous spacing improves readability.

Some fonts may need to have individual characters adjusted to help create better readability and a more aesthetically pleasing layout

Adjustments can be made from letter spacing/tracking (spacing between whole groups of letters in lines or passages of text) to kern (spacing between pairs of letters), and leading (vertical space between lines).

Font versatility

The most useful fonts come in a variety of weights (such as light, regular, medium, bold, or heavy) and styles (such as narrow, condensed, extended, or small caps).

Having all those options allows you to assign different styles of the same typeface to different functions within your design project, creating a very cohesive outlook.

As a designer, you need a few neutral fonts that adapt to various contexts. These types of fonts are basically serif or sans-serif fonts that can be used pretty anywhere because they don’t draw a lot of attention.

That’s why choosing a versatile font – especially if you’re planning on only using one typeface for your design project will make laying out an attractive, easy-to-navigate design a lot easier.

Some of the commonly used versatile fonts on the serif category include Georgia, Crimson Text, Droid Serif, and Merriweather. For Sans-serif, Franklin Gothic, Clear Sans, Roboto, Lato, Source Sans Pro, or Merriweather Sans are mostly preferred.

Pairing of Fonts

Choosing two or more fonts to use together can be tricky.

First how many fonts can you use while pairing?

From various design forums, some would say one font will do for most projects, others three is the maximum number you should include to avoid an overly busy or confusing layout.

While that’s a fundamental basis if new to design there are no rules at least.

Finding a font combination with a level of contrast that’s just right-  Isn’t one instant thing, but is usually a combination of personal taste, practice, instinct, and observation.

You want the fonts to complement each other, but not be too similar and different, but so wildly different that they clash, here are some tips to get started:

Find font families: Look for font families known as ‘super-families’ that come with both a serif and a sans-serif typeface designed specifically to complement each other, along with a variety of weights and styles to choose from. Each font has a unique approach or a recognizable aesthetic. As they share a certain look or structure that makes it easy to pair them.

Assign the task to each font: A chosen font needs to be different enough to create a clear visual hierarchy ? showing viewers where to look and what’s important. Assigning one sans-serif and one serif font are often enough to do this effectively.

Shared quality: Fonts that look significantly different but share something in common is more likely to work well together.

The font quality such as the letter height or width might be general proportions or have a common structure between fonts. This quality helps give your font combination a basic cohesion.

If interested in learning more about how to combine fonts, read more on 10 Golden Rules You Need to Master in Combining Fonts and Typeface Like a Pro.

Where to Find Free Fonts

There are plenty of sites that offer free font downloads. But when downloading fonts check the license.

Here are several free font sources to get you started:

1) Google Fonts : This is probably the best resource for fonts that are both free and licensed for commercial use. The fonts are free and open source and optimized for the web making beautiful type accessible for any project. They can also be downloaded to your computer for use on print projects, though it’s a little hard to find where to do that.

2) 1001 Fonts : Currently has over 10,000 free fonts in 9,000 families available, that, like DaFont, are of varying quality. Includes a special section with free licenses for commercial-use fonts and offers a handy option to search by type/style/mood, decade and occasion.

3) Font Squirrel : It was created as a directory of free fonts for use on websites or desktops. It includes a selection of high-quality fonts that are searchable by classification or tag. The directory also has a feature to determine the font used from an image – A font identifier.

4) DaFont : An archive of over 25,000 free downloadable fonts. It is the public domain, and demo fonts are available. They vary in quality as anyone can submit a font they’ve created. Most fonts are free only for personal use.

More Free Fonts Source For Download

These are sites have exclusive options to choose for your design. However, they aren’t dedicated exclusively to free fonts and aren’t extensive.

FontShop : A classy font foundry for buying fonts that offers certain weights and styles. Currently, they have a free font category for downloading quality free fonts. Unfortunately, you must create an account to download. Fontfabric : A type foundry with high-quality fonts which stand in a unique class of their own. Currently with a small but varied selection of free, professionally designed typefaces for any designer project whether web, print, t-shirt design, logo etc.

Lost Type Co-Op : A Collaborative digital type foundry with trendy, unique, and vintage-style fonts. The font is for personal use and priced accordingly for commercial use.

The guide provides a basis for typeface and fonts with resources to choose appropriately and apply in your design projects. If you have any favourite typefaces or resources, feel free to share in the comments.

How do you choose a typeface for your design before implementation?

Paul Simiyu

Paul Simiyu

Founder and Team Lead of Simpaul Design, a brand strategy and design agency in Nairobi, Kenya. Here at Simpaul Design, we work with brands across various categories with a focus on connecting with consumers and building brands that people want to be a part of. We specialize in brand identity and strategy, UX/UI, and brand transformation.

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    2. Fonts are your presentation's best friend. Let's start with fonts since they represent the essence of typography for most people. An easy-to read font will help your message reach the audience faster and more efficiently, while the wrong font can annihilate ideas and frustrate audiences.

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    Typefaces vs. Fonts. These two terms have often been interchangeably many times, but they actually mean two different things. Typeface can be described as the collective name given to a family of fonts. Garamond or Times New Roman are examples of serif typefaces. Font refers to widths, weights, and styles specified within a typeface.

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    The minimalist design is great to make your presentation look polished and professional. But it's also a great way to make sure that your audience's attention is 100% exactly where you want it to be! Use a strong cover to even out simple slides. 6. Use a unifying background.

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    4. Limit your fonts. One of the common slipups designers - especially newbies - do is using too many fonts and styles. If you need more than one, make sure to limit your fonts to just two to three typefaces. Use one font and size for the body, another for the header, and another for the subhead.

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    Face. Use sans serif fonts. Choose a font face appropriate for your audience and message. Use one or two font faces at most. Decoration. Never use word art, 3-D effects, shadows, warping, etc. Use bold, italics, or underlines sparingly. Color. Ensure high contrast between text and background.

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    Most presentation experts recommend these size ranges. The thumb rule — a larger font size with less text on screen is always good. The default slide in PowerPoint starts with 60pts for section headers and 24pts for body font. Header Font: Between 26 and 42 point. Body Font: Between 18 and 24 point.

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    It's best to study some of the famous typefaces and understand what makes them great. If you need help knowing some good typefaces to go study, check outthis typography video from the futur. ... Serifs were believed to create drag and muddle up the spaces inbetween letters. We created typefaces without the serifs to help legibility, but ...

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    Typography is the art of using text to make content clear, legible, and visually appealing to readers. From font style to structure, appearance to formatting, there's a lot to consider when creating presentations. Typography is the "body language" of your presentation, which is why you need to optimize readability, functionality, and positioning.

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    1. Use a Font That Is Large and In Charge. Source. If you are presenting to a small group or a packed stadium, make sure your audience can see your text! Use a large and in charge font that can be ...

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    When creating a professional presentation, it is recommended to use a maximum of two to three typefaces. Limiting the number of typefaces helps maintain a cohesive and polished look throughout your presentation. Here's why: 1. Consistency: Using a limited number of typefaces ensures consistency and helps establish a visual hierarchy.

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    Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like When proofreading complex documents, concentrate on individual words rather than ideas. (t/f), How many typefaces should you use in a business document? a. At least three b. Up to five c. At least ten d. No more than two, I am writing you this message to see if you can speak at our conference on May 3 is an effective opening for ...

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    User: When creating a professional presentation, how many typefaces are recommended at the most? Weegy: When creating a professional presentation, Only one is recommended at the most. Score 1 User: If you can't show your PowerPoint presentation on a screen, your best option is to Weegy: A PowerPoint presentation is a collection of individual slides that contain information on a topic.

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