Font tips for commercially printed publications
The fonts that you use in a publication affect not only its appearance, but also its commercial printing cost. When you choose fonts for a publication, take advantage of the following useful tips.
Reduce your file size before handoff Before you save your final publication, ask your printing service if they have any of the fonts that you used in your publication installed on their computer. If they do, you can choose not to embed the fonts that they have when you save your files for your printing service. This reduces the size of your handoff files.
Use TrueType fonts Although you can use either TrueType fonts or PostScript fonts in your publication, it's best to use only TrueType fonts for two reasons:
- Microsoft Publisher can embed TrueType fonts in your publication, but not PostScript fonts or other non-TrueType fonts. If you use non-TrueType fonts, you will need to make sure your printer has those fonts, or you need to provide fonts along with your publication.
- If you use TrueType fonts, your printing service can use all of Publisher's advanced features, such as trapping, to prepare your publication for final printing.
Use fonts instead of styles Use only the fonts installed on your computer instead of formatting fonts with styles, such as Italic or Bold. That is, before you make text bold, check to see whether the bold version of that font is installed on your computer, and use it instead.
Use only high-quality fonts High-quality fonts provide additional information to printing devices, such as imagesetters. This improves the appearance of text in your printed publication.
Use only a few fonts Limiting the number of fonts ensures faster printing and a cleaner publication.
Remove unnecessary objects Remove text and graphics from the scratch area before you save your files for your printing service. This makes it easier for your commercial printing service to work with your files.