Font choice is an important consideration when preparing videos for worship. When done well, the fonts themselves are unnoticeable, and the congregation will read the words instead of seeing the font. Choose a font that does not call attention to itself. Here are a few basic tips when selecting fonts for your song lyrics:
Stick with simple fonts
Fonts that have a consistent body weight are the best choice for lyrics. Simple, classic fonts are the best choice for worship media. We read best that which we read most. Fonts like Times New Roman and Arial may totally overused in general design applications, but because people are familiar with these typefaces, these fonts are easy to read. Because these letter shapes are so familiar, they will disappear into the background, and people will read the words, rather than see the letters.Consider your background image when selecting a font
Complex background images require the use of simpler fonts. The readability of each line of text is determined not just by the typeface used, but also by the background image behind the text. In the image below, we have used sans-serif fonts over the red images, and serif fonts over the blue images. A serif is a slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter. Times New Roman is a serif font, whereas, Arial is a sans-serif font.
Choosing and using appropriate fonts is a complex topic, and we'll explore it further in next week's newsletter.
