Fonts for Broadcast?
- Started
- Last post
- 15 Responses
- yarsrevenge
Has anyone ever had any experience with font legibility for broadcast? Which fonts work best for copy, titles, etc.?
I'm working on a project for broadcast and would like to use the smallest possible system font for copy. I just don't know if something like Verdana 10pt would translate well.
any input would be great... thanks in advance.
- vespa0
hahaaaa verdana 10 pt :)
Tiresias is the typeface that was developed specifically for broadcast legibility. You shouldn't really go below 24 pt. Under no circumstance should you go below 18 pt.
If you need to take into account the scenario of a widescreen broadcast being played out on a 4:3 telly (i.e. being letterboxed and therefore being shrunk to 75% of total size) then I would recommend that you don't go below 27 pt.
- vespa0
Other broadcast legibility tips:
• Light text on a dark background is slightly easier to read on television
• Text on screen needs looser leading than in print
• When technically possible, tracking should be increased by up to 30%
• A full screen of text should contain a rough maximum of 90 words (45 if accompanied by motion video)
• Text should be broken into small chunks that can be read almost instantly
- chossy0
Watch out guys some changes have been made to the text height that have not been published yet or have just been published, as I was caught out a month or so ago and I had a text height of 18 and etc. and the bacc blew it back so I had to increase it to 20 which was huge for a disclaimer hi!.
- meter0
really good tips from vespa, he knows what he's talking about
- vespa0
*ahem* She knows what She's talking about! ;)
- janne0
Vespa, awesome advice!
much appreciated, i am going to save that!
and i just found that link:
http://www.tiresias.org/fonts/in…
on of those fonts that was subject to a lot of research even for people with certain visual disabilities.
- janne0
you work at the BBC right?
- vespa0
no probs janne. and yes i do.
- e_rey0
Futura med works well for broadcast.
Great photos vespa!
- vespa0
aw cheers e_rey
- zedvox0
heh vespa ji is rockin it.
- chach0
the tireseas link was hot.
for the miniboards (bugs) we do,
eurostile always looks the best (going for a 'dynamic' look. that's what abc & espn use.
- yarsrevenge0
Thanks guys (and chica)... this is very helpful info. You rock!
- helloperson0
Yeah, 10px is definately out. The best way to tell is to check everything with an NTSC preview monitor.
Another trick for disclaimer type is to apply at 1px vertical blur to your type to reduce field flicker. This option is simplified in After Effects in the "Reduce Interlace Flicker" filter.
- yarsrevenge0
ok... so how big would this disclaimer type be? Is this the 20pt size text?