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Resume Font
A Bear
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Any typography people around?
I've way overthought my resume font choice--I'm looking for something clean, readable (both online and in print) and capable of being loaded on most any computer. I've gravitated towards some of the sans serif mainstays--Arial, Helvetica, Verdana--but everything I have read that critiques typefaces seems to hate all three of these. Is it just because they are so common? Is there even an available alternative that will meet the requirements of clean, readable, and universal? Its for a legal resume, so I probably should stick to something pretty traditional, but there must be something out there that isn't universally reviled by designers/people with taste.
I've way overthought my resume font choice--I'm looking for something clean, readable (both online and in print) and capable of being loaded on most any computer. I've gravitated towards some of the sans serif mainstays--Arial, Helvetica, Verdana--but everything I have read that critiques typefaces seems to hate all three of these. Is it just because they are so common? Is there even an available alternative that will meet the requirements of clean, readable, and universal? Its for a legal resume, so I probably should stick to something pretty traditional, but there must be something out there that isn't universally reviled by designers/people with taste.
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I personally really like Calibri. If you want a basic sans serif font, it's inoffensive and actually quite easy on the eyes. Much nicer than Arial.
Really though, if you're not using Comic Sans or Papyrus, and you're not applying for a typography job, I'm sure it won't matter.
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I don't like calibri that much but lots of people seem to; any of the sans serif regulars are okay. If you're submitting printed stuff I would put it in a serifed font. TNR is fine.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Other than that, steering clear of obvious traps* like Comic Sans and Papyrus, or "special effect" fonts is never bad advice.
*No, really; I know of at least two high-level professional organisations that automatically bin anything submitted in comic sans, unread.
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that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
well, general rule of thumb is sans-serif is great on a computer screen but horrible for readability on paper; vice versa for serif fonts.
i'm a fan of Century Schoolbook and Georgia as resume fonts, myself.
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I'm surprised the amount of love for sans-serif here; sans-serif for a resume looked OK when I was 16, but serif is definitely my preferred choice nowadays.
Constantia is my current favorite print/screen serif, but Minion Pro and Palatino are also solid choices. I've never been much for Garamond, however hard I try to like it.
EDIT: Cambria is also pretty decent, but I feel the ligatures make the letters look like they are standing to attention and makes me feel a little tense, but this may be perfect depending on how you layout your CV.
Calibri is way too informal. Cambria is okay, but a tad stiff, although that's probably ideal for a resume. Personally, I tend to always go with Constantia unless I'm given a reason not to. It's beautiful, legible, and equally at ease on paper and screen. Also, text figures.
For sans, I tend to like the dignity found in Candara (microsoft's Optima competitor w/ text figures) and use it as a title font frequently. Corbel manages to go without Candara's historical feel while still retaining most of its formality, and, like Gill Sans, Frutiger, and Clearview, has enough humanism to function as a text font.
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you are the worst typographer
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
If you want a lovely sans serif may I suggest myriad pro? So lovely.
For the serif in you, I'm partial to the exquisite Bodoni.
But really, sans-serif for headers (Franklin Gothic) serif for paragraph text (times new roman)
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So yea, I'm torn between serif and sans--I personally think I enjoy sans serif more, and feel it projects a more clean and contemporary look--but if they look like crap on paper, I could change pretty quick. I do figure as I'm breaking into a pretty traditional field, maybe taking the conservative route is a good thing.
Times New Roman is not going to happen--I see that one way, way, too much.
Calibri and Cambria are the default system fonts on my copy of Microsoft Office for Mac, is it risky to use those them because they are defaults? Should that make them preferable? I'm not wild about either. I write most of my class notes in Cambria already, so I see it a ton.
Comic Sans is a clear frontrunner, of course.
Constantia is particularly nice looking--we had a professor in school who used it for all his documents--but I don't know if I'm wild about how the text figures play into my overall resume.
Palatino seems to be another quite nice serif font, not as tall as Constantia, and with a consistent lining. Maybe I need to explore serifs more...
I instantly recognized Myriad Pro as Macintosh's font, is that a good or a bad thing?
Also--shorter height is a good thing on my resume. It needs to stay under 1 page, and I have a lot of lines that I'm trying to keep in without totally messing up the flow.
I found a page here that has a pretty interesting hierarchy of fonts. Any validity to it?
That's a highly subjective list. Putting Calibri and Times New Roman above Constantia, to me, actually goes against most of the reasoning he has at the top. Gill Sans is also touch and go, it can look great or awful, depending on the document you are creating. I can't imagine a legal document typeset in Gill Sans.
I think what you need to do now is use the recommendations you've had, print out copies and see which you like best printed, then see which ones work best on-screen. My experience is that a good screen font can look atrocious printed, whereas a font that prints nicely is more likely to look OK on-screen.
I personally thinking typesetting any lengthy document in Myriad Pro will now always look like an Apple document and should thus be avoided, but it can be nice for headers.
Try to remember that the C fonts are sized so that they are the same size in eleven as Times New Roman is in twelve. It's close enough for me to suspect that it's intentional (if you look at the presets, all the C fonts are set to eleven while the older ones are set to twelve).
Georgia is quite pretty, but it's way too heavy. There's probably some way to get Georgia Light, but I don't know it.
If you're using a mac, I recommend titling with Optima and using Perpetua for text. They're both quite pretty and there's a certain bit of subversive fun in using the fonts of both sides of the 2008 race.
For numbers, a good rule of thumb is that text figures are best inside text, while numbers on their own should be set in Cambria Math.