🚀 go-pugleaf

Comic Sans bold in all caps is what I use for my business 
correspondence. <g>

Seriously, just keep it neat and clean. There are too "professional" 
typefaces to even start making recommendations.

Bob

Adam,

Adding to Bob's comments: stick to good, readable text fonts purchased from reputable foundries or resellers. A clean, formal, traditional or modern serif or sans serif font, conservatively set and laid out would be my first choice for most professional services. The font chosen should also be appropriate for the kind of service being offered.

But even if it is kindergarten/day care, I'd stay away from casual or "hand drawn" style fonts. Do not use a mix of fonts (other than perhaps an occasional genuine italic needed for emphasis). Do not use all caps, drop shadows, outline fonts, excessive underscores, etc. And don't set type too large -- 10-12 pt (depending upon the font) should be fine. And add a little leading between lines.

Hope this helps.

Neil

Neil

Excellent advice, thanks very much! At the moment the main body of my letter is just Arial regular (which is quite plain I guess) but it looks okay. There is just such a selection nowadays I don't want to pick something which the receiver of my letter thinks is ridiculous.

Would you think if your letters were offering design services it should definitely be a little more stylish than Arial? Hmmmnn.

Adam,

Arial is not terrible (and probably better than Times), but there are more attractive choices, such as Myriad. For a designer, you may also want to look at Gill Sans, Futura, or Scala Sans. Keep the weight of the type on the light side, and the appearance of the letter open and airy. Large margins and leading help. Don't use 20# laser bond from your local office supply. Choose a 24#-28# bright white or off-white high-quality laid or bond with a good feel. Take a look at Strathmore Writing. Watermarks and 25% rag content add to the allure. (Just don't print with the watermark upside down!) And use matching envelopes, where you either print the address directly on the envelope (do not use labels!) or handwrite them. Use a postage meter or small first class stamps.

Neil

If you are selling design services, then Arial is probably the second worse choice (Comic Sans being first). You should be showing some of your design esthetics, and choosing the default font for many applications will not do the trick. Neil has given a few good choices ... I could come up with another hundred given some time (as could he).

And that is only on the sans side ... there are even more good serif fonts that communicate good design esthetics. A Garamond, Janson, Aldus, Goudy Old Style, Warnock ... all much more impressive than Times New Roman.

There's a bunch of nice Garamonds to choose from as well (except for ITC Garamond). or Centaur. Adobe Jenson. Also the two bonus fonts that come with Adobe CS3.

There's a long list. But use fonts from reputable foundries, and nothing off a disk marketed as "1000 Professional Typefaces Just $10".

Neil

      Arial is not terrible (and probably better than Times),




I'd disagree on both counts. Arial (like Helvetica) is not great for body text of multiple paragraphs. If it's a short letter, you could get away with it.

If this is an unsolicited promotional piece, then you may need to look professional but also try to catch attention. If it were to people who know you, then you could be more conservative.

What sort of service are you offering?

Regards,

T

Thomas Phinney
Product Manager
Fonts & Global Typography
Adobe Systems

Thomas,

      Arial is not terrible (and probably better than Times), but there are
      more attractive choices, such as Myriad.




I guess I was just being very polite in that response. <g>

Neil

I can abide by "not terrible" in that there are fonts that would be terrible ... Comic Sans or all caps Algerian, for example.

Not terrible is not the same as good.

Or combine Comic Sans with Algerian...

Neil <g>

But the OP should also understand that Algerian and Comic Sans do have some legitimate uses, although mainstream correspondence (or typography in general) would certainly not be among them.

Neil