Type Introduction Which are best? Making great headlines Stick with 2 typefaces Ascenders & descenders Width of columns Take our ad effectiveness course. Learn what you need to know to get a great response the first time you run. Just $59 • Get more readers seeing your ad • Get more readers reading your ad • Get more readers responding

Using type effectively in your advertisement is easy if you follow a few simple guidelines.

Above all else, keep in mind that type is primarily there to communicate to your readers, just as it is in the editorial content of the publication in which you're planning to advertise.

Most likely that publication's editorial content is set in a variation of the typeface Times New Roman. In fact, it's not a coincidence that you'll find similar typefaces in every English-language newspaper, magazine, and book in print.

Times New Roman

Times New Roman is a serif font (meaning "feet" in French, named for the little horizontal lines on the upper and lower tips of many of the characters), is so popular mainly because it's so easy to read.

In fact, typographers tell us that serif fonts like Times are so readable that the type becomes transparent. The reader doesn't stop every few seconds and say "Wow! Look at that S!" or "Isn't it interesting how they made that W?".

Instead, the reader's mind is free to absorb the information. It's the same situation with your ad--readers really shouldn't be noticing the medium, only the message.

That's not to say you can't be creative with type. The following pages will give you some advice on how to use type both creatively and effectively to reinforce the message and not distract from it.

Next: Which fonts are best?

Conditions of Use     © 2001-2010 Robert McInnis Consulting