Courier – The Typewriter’s Bestfriend

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If you lived before the era of Microsoft systems and Epson printers, there’s a good chance that you love the disturbing, hammering sound of the typewriter and the classic font style it produces — courier. This font really induces sweet memories of the past, especially those of telegram messages that barely say two sentences but takes two months to get delivered. Gone are the good old days, as they say. At least, we can reminisce every now and then by using the Courier font and pretend that typewriters and telegrams are back with a vengeance.

Times New Roman – The Default Font

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Many people are heavily endeared to Times New Roman, not because it has the best style out there, but simply because it is the first font they ever encountered and knew by name. Remember when word processors software are new? Initially, people thought that Times New Roman was the only way to get their work printed on paper. Eventually, users discovered that all you have to do is scroll down Microsoft Word’s menu and bingo, various font designs would show up. I have a hunch that academic leagues are catching up pretty slow, because they still require their students to rigidly stick with Times New Roman size 12 in their research papers and essays. Why not try Wingdings for a change?

Arial Font – The Solution When Words Come Short

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Arial is not only a very neat font, it also helps freelance writers, researchers, book authors and students each time they fall short of a few paragraphs or pages. For example, an author who has a goal of writing a 120 page book suddenly gets a bad case of writer’s block. He then decides to end his work abruptly. If he is on the 107th or 108th page of the book, all he needs to do is change the font design of the entire book to Arial. A miracle suddenly happens after the font change. The book will instantly become 120 to 130 pages long. That’s the beauty of the Arial solution (commonly used by freelance writers who get paid per page).

Verdana Font – The Advertising Headline

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Verdana is known for it’s thick edges, and block rounded style, thus making it a landslide favorite among direct response advertisers. There is little to say about Verdana here. However, I’ve observed that too many direct response ads and sales letters tend to shout at their readers, by overusing the size of Verdana and making it bold. So use Verdana moderately.

The Georgia Font – Use It When Emotions Matter

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After you finish reading this little article, I’d like to suggest an experiment for you to do. During Christmas, wedding anniversary, birthday party, or any special occasion, create a homemade card and give it to someone special to you. Don’t forget to use Arial or Courier font. If you do what I just suggested, I bet your spouse, friend, child, or anyone who receives your card will say something like this: “Is this card a recycled file from your office”?

Georgia is different. It doesn’t look like an office type font. Rather, it radiates more warmth and is less uptight. This is the reason why it is not uncommon for us to see Georgia on birthday cards, bookmarks and invitations.