Teen to government: Change your typeface, save millions

[namey]

An e. You can write it with one fluid swoop of a pen or one tap of the keyboard. The most commonly used letter in the English dictionary. Simple, right?
Now imagine it printed out millions of times on thousands of forms and documents. Then think of how much ink would be needed.

OK, so that may have been a first for you, but it came naturally to 14-

Comments

[grace_om]

Except that you also have to consider readability -- especially for people who are not teens, and whose jobs require reading stacks of paper daily.

Open up a document and type a line in Garamond, then retype it in Times, and again in Arial. Which one would you want to stare at all day? Especially after it's been scanned into a pdf?

I work for a state agency, and the powers that be decided we should switch from Times to Arial. Many people pointed out that Arial uses the most ink of any of the common fonts (as none of this is new info, it's well known), but the decision stood. I was fine with Times, and use it for personal work. However, Arial *is* easier on the eyes. I value what's left of my sight far too much to support a switch to Garamond.

[roseofjuly]

This. I hate Garamond. It's difficult to read, especially at smaller typefaces.

I prefer Times New Roman or Georgia, but Arial/Helvetica's okay. My vision starts to swim after staring at sans-serif typefaces for too long.

[grace_om]

Garamond is grey! No contrast at all :-(

I save the good taxpayers money by working paperless as far as possible. I don't print anything unless I have to send it on with an original signature.

But hey, bashing public workers is way more fun, right CNN?

[oceandezignz]

Yay! Someone else who liks Georgia! I thought I was alone. ._.

[schexyschteve]

What?! Georgia is the best font!

[ljtaylor]

As I understand it from my university's guide to dissertation writing: sans-serif fonts (Arial et al) are easier to read on-screen than serif fonts like Times and Garamond, which are easier to read in print.

But Georgia works quite nicely on screen for me.