Tips for Small Type

If you’ve tried creating graphics or content using small typefaces then you’ve probably run into the problem of readability. Microsoft created a font known as Verdana to solve the issue of small type on screen. Shown below is a comparison of Verdana at difference sizes to Minion Pro at the same sizes. The image was created in Adobe Photoshop CS3 with Strong anti-aliasing applied to the text.

I recently came across a highly detailed article that explains how to get the most readability from your small type. Check it out at The Art of Type.

You can read more about Verdana at the Microsoft site Channel Verdana and if you’re really a typegeek, you’d be interested in the Wikipedia entry on Verdana as well.

And of course to be fair, you might as well check out the entry for Minion as well. You can get the
Minion Complete Family Pack from Fonts.com.

It could be just me, but I think of something totally different when I hear the word “minion”

I’ve used Strong anti-aliasing in the image above. I’d like some feedback from you in the comments as to what anti-aliasing to use when creating graphical text to use on the web, when printing the content is not going to be an expectation.