The importance of choosing the right fonts
Choosing the right fonts is one of the most important decisions you make in creating the right visual impact with your printed job.First rule is always less is more. Beware of using too many weird and wonderful fonts - the end result will be confusion.
In typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface as opposed to one without serifs which are known as sans-serif.
Serif typefaces - such as Garamond, Times New Roman or Palatino
best where you have lots of text, as it is more readable in bulk
Sans-serif typefaces - such as Helvetica, Arial or Gill Sans
where you want the printed page to look clean and modern
Supplying fonts
Fonts on PCs are different than Mac fonts, though these days most are available for both platforms - or you can substitute a “look alike” often with a similar name. Mac OS X can also use Truetype or OpenType fonts.
Fonts are usually either Postscript (sometimes called Type 1), Truetype or OpenType.
While we have a large and comprehensive font library – be sure to supply your fonts with the job for consistent results and to avoid possible output problems.
This is especially true where text runs over a number of pages as even if the same named font is selected (such as Garamond) there are so many versions that look so similar but having slightly different set-widths (ie width of characters) that the text may "flow" differently on remote computers.
To help ensure this does not happen all fonts that you have used should be temporarily loaned to us for output of your job otherwise we will have to substitute for our own versions.
Creating Outlines
Software such as Adobe InDesign and Illustrator have options to select a font and convert them to standard vector graphics or shapes. Use this if you are having trouble supplying the fonts needed or want to play it safe. However, some fonts do not convert correctly and may change slightly with this process, so double check that the fonts look as you intend, before saving. Note that the text can not be modified after the conversion has been made.
Things to note...
Pagefast will always supply a proof of your print job so you should check the text actually "flows" as you would like it to and that nothing is missing at the end of a page or text block.
Supplying fonts is imperative for fonts embedded in eps files - as sometimes these can be difficult to identify if you have not created the original eps. When creating eps files always be sure to enable the "embed all fonts" option if this is available. Be warned that some fonts have a copyright security tag which prevents them being embedded.
Most desktop publishing applications have an option to “Save for remote print” or "Package" or a similar option and this should always be used as all fonts, graphics and other files are copied into a folder which can then be sent to Pagefast, enabling access to all the files you have used on your computer.
