Designing your own publications

Choosing a platform
Fonts
Selecting software
Images
Ink
Paper
Rules for ordering printing
Writing specifications for print bids
Preparing files for a commercial printer
Additional resources

Buying fonts

Before purchasing fonts

You should know that there are four different types of font formats available: Bitmap, PostScript (Type 1), TrueType, and OpenType.

Font Summary - a safe bet?

Format	Probably not	Maybe	Yes
Bitmap	x
Adobe PostScript			x
TrueType		x
OpenType			x

Detailed information about font formats

• Bitmap: Avoid these! They are referred to as screen fonts because they were developed for on-screen viewing. They are unacceptable for commercial printing (unless they come with an outline font) because bitmaps can become “jaggy” or “stairstepped” when you make them bigger.
• Adobe PostScript (Type 1 and Type 3): These are usually referred to as “PostScript fonts.” The classic. Instead of creating fonts from bitmaps, this format creates outlines and allows them to be printed out at a variety of resolutions and scaleable sizes.
• TrueType: This is a font format created by Apple (according to the Microsoft web site) and now used cross-platform on Apple and Microsoft, and intended to replace Adobe PostScript fonts. High-end commercial printers occasionally have trouble outputting them correctly. Mixing TrueType and PostScript fonts on a Mac (pre-OSX) can cause problems for professional printers.
• OpenType: This is a new cross-platform hybrid font format that combines PostScript and TrueType formats, developed by Microsoft and Adobe. According to Microsoft, it is “an extension of the TrueType font format, adding support for PostScript font data.” An informal phone survey of commercial printers revealed that most weren’t having trouble with OpenType fonts.

Read more about the font wars or see Adobe’s font page.

 

If you want to supplement your font collection

You can still buy PostScript Type 1 or Type 3 fonts, and it seems that printers aren't having problems with them. Some vendors that sell the PostScript format

• Emigre
• Fonts.com
• ITC
• Linotype

Want more? See UCDA’s long list of font houses.

Free fonts

Be sure to have your commercial printer approve these fonts before you get attached to them, but if you're looking for fonts to play with or something you'll just be printing on your laser printer, 1001freefonts.com is worth a look.

Which font families does the campus use?

The campus uses Adobe Garamond and Univers 55 in the logo and campus identity. These are not available in the FontFolio (they were chosen before the OpenType format was invented). But Adobe Garamond Pro (listed under G if you’ve bought the fonts) and Univers Std, from the folio, are close to the standard fonts.

 

Don’t see your question answered? Let us know.