What is a serif font? What is sans serif? Why care?

Serif fonts are fonts which have 'serifs', the ticks on their ends. Sans serif fonts are sans (without) the ticks.

Serif fonts like Garamond and Times New Roman are used in printing. Books, reports, leaflets and brochures are printed in serif fonts. Because it is easier to read serif fonts on paper. In my book, For Brand's Sake I had used Merriweather from Google.

Sans serif fonts are easier to read on screens. That's why apps, websites and presentations use or should use sans serif fonts. This rule applies when there is a lot of text. When you have just a few words, the readability of both font types do not differ a lot.

If you are making a presentation, do use sans serif fonts. You can download a good font from Google fonts. Try fonts like Rubik, Nunito Sans, Poppins or Roboto.

Solution to the Problem of using Special Fonts

In my last post, I made a case for using special fonts. Using special fonts gives your audience a much needed break from Arial, Calibri and other such fonts. The problem arises when you email this presentation. The receiver does not have your special fonts and hence the outcome is a disaster. The entire purpose of using special fonts is lost.

There is one simple solution to this: Convert your presentation to PDF. When you save as PDF, the fonts are saved as it is. You can now send it to anyone in the world. There will be no problem in displaying special fonts.