Fonts, sizes and style, oh my!

When I heard our computers would be receiving an update late last week, I didn’t think much of it. I had a little inkling that there would be some stress involved as I had seen The Record-Review reporter, Casey, go through changes when his computer updated earlier in the week.

I didn’t know the impact it might have on our paper. Back in the day, newspapers weren’t at the bidding of whatever styles or fonts were installed on the computer as there were no computers to worry about. If you wanted to change fonts, you needed to find a new stamp set for your typewriter.

The updated fonts in our new computer system meant our old fonts were obsolete. We had to update from a font called Nimrod (ironic name for a duo consisting of Nathaniel and I putting together the paper) to something that hopefully closely resembles that same font.

Choosing the new fonts proved to be a strenuous task. Nathaniel spent a good amount of time on Friday of last week trying to compare and contrast fonts so readers wouldn’t notice too much of a difference from last week to this week in what the body text, headlines and captions looked like in The Tribune-Phonograph.

We couldn’t find an exact match to replace Nimrod, but we did find something close. We ultimately went with Times New Roman for body text and headlines which is kind of a flashback. Back before Nimrod was chosen as the font of The Record Review and Tribune-Phonograph newspapers, Times New Roman was our bread and butter.

The requirements of a newspaper font are simple. Don’t draw too much attention to the letters but let the words be loud and clear. It truly should be a simple task to choose a font and style for the paper, but it is a task that should have a small semblance of permanence. We can’t keep changing fonts week after week. Readers get used to how the Tribune- Phonograph or any other paper looks.

Since we started at the Tribune-Phonograph, Nathaniel and I have been looking to change things up or reanalyze the way things are done. We have changed some smaller things but the biggest change is still on the horizon.

We will eventually be switching up our header on the front page along with other stylistic aspects of the paper. We have been working on these designs intermittently throughout the last year but are far from settled on a final design.

If you’re still reading through this column which has probably felt more like a classroom lecture than an entertainment piece, then thank you for seeing the behind the scenes aspects of reporting and editing for a newspaper. It’s quite the process but we care about what the paper looks like and that’s why font, styles, spacing, etc. changes are carefully thought out and take some time.

Speeding

Through

L

ife