WORKING WITH CAMBRIA TYPEFACE

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Cambria Regular is the default serif font in Microsoft Office 2007. It was designed by Jelle Bosma, Steve Matteson and Robin Nicholas. The purpose of this typeface is to give a clearer on-screen depiction. Fonts similar to Cambria are Diverda Serif, Eidetic Neo, Karmina and Prensa. This typeface is distributed with Windows Vista, Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, and Microsoft Office 2007 viewers and converters. The typeface publisher is Microsoft Typography.

I’ve always liked this typeface; I’ve used it for everything from term papers, emails, business documents, web designs to presentations. Cambria has a “sturdy” appearance to me. I feel like it’s an accurate reflection of how I want majority of my work to be conveyed. Unlike the casual feel of Times, Arial, Helvetica or Century Old Style just to mention a few, it comprises simultaneously of the most important characteristics: formality and solidity. This typeface to me is seen as something strong and serious, yet not too stern that it scares away the audience.

Coupled with external research on typeface, I’m going to be using Kathleen Burke Yoshida’s article on “Avoiding Typeface Terrors” to help analyze what technical communicators should consider when selecting a typeface. The article discusses test requirements to ensure communication is in a clear and creative manner. This post is going to concentrate on the following typeface topics:

1. Legibility (the clarity of the letters) In the article “Avoiding Typeface Terror”, Kathleen refers to legibility of a typeface as the degree of the letters recognition. In other words, how legible the letters are whether they are standing alone or are in combination with one another.

Let’s determine if Cambria passes the legibility requirement. To determine legibility for Cambria, place a piece of paper over the top or bottom half of the words. If you can read the words easily by just looking at half of the letters, then Cambria is likely perceived as legible.

Notice that I mixed the type size, variation and included numbers in the graphic above. This I believe will better create a more diverse foundation to answer the question. I can make out each word and number, whether the top or bottom half is covered by a piece of paper. Therefore, Cambria passes the legibility test. Now let’s try readability.

2. Readability (the ease of reading the letters)

I know you may be wondering what the difference between legibility and readability is, but these are two distinct typeface considerations. Unlike legibility, readability according to Kathleen refers to how easily the typeface can be read. Take for instance, the above Cambria graphical text representation. We are going to determine if the typeface passes the test using format elements such as: white space, type (point) size, and typeface variations.

a. White Space – This refers to how easily the words breathe, and if they have adequate white space separating each other to make the text readable. Keep in mind, that too much space will impose a problem on the readability of the text. On the other hand, too little space will cluster the text therefore making it difficult or impossible to read. In my opinion, Cambria excels here too, it has very even spacing and proportion.

b. Type Size – This refers to the point size you select for your text. In my opinion, Cambria has a strong feel to it already, therefore you need to be very careful when choosing font size. I usually use 12-point for most body text. This I feel is legible and readable enough to avoid complications.

c. Typeface Variations – This refers to elements such as italics, bold, all caps and underlines. Above, Ive displayed a variety of Cambria text in bold, italics, all uppercase etc. Obviously the text is very much readable here, which means it passes this test. However, like stated above Cambria has a strong appearance, so bolding letters or words should definitely be used when necessary.

3. Personality (the feeling conveyed from Cambria)

The article does not explicitly state a test used to determine a typeface personality. However, it explains that a typeface should complement rather than distract one from the document’s purpose and message. I agree with Kathleen when she says “A typeface’s personality is ultimately determined by a reader’s perception”. I would classify Cambria in general as a conventional typeface. This is because of its formal appearance that this characteristic makes it appropriate for business documents. It also can be used for any long text like; term papers, novels, books and the like. I would prefer to refer to Cambria as the “all purpose body typeface”.

References:

Yoshida, B. Kathleen “Avoiding Typeface Terrors” - http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2000/PDFs/00006.PDF

http://www.identifont.com/find?font=cambria&q=Go

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambria_(typeface)