Choosing fonts/file types for posters

[sdobbie]

When creating a poster (3x4 feet), are there some fonts that will stay clear at that size?  Also, which file types (for logos) are best for this? 

[stokerg]

Hi sdobbie and Welcome to the Forums,

Most fonts should be fine at that size but of course depending on the style of font, others may be more readable at a distance.  This page has some good tips for picking a font.  For logo you really want to stick to vector type objects, as they should ensure they scale up nicely    Again the page i've linked to has some good advice for large scale printing and i'm sure others will post their suggestion shortly  

[Mithferion]

Generally speaking, there are two types of Fonts:

• Heading
• Paragraph

That means that using a "Heading" Font in small sizes will look bad, and vice versa; "Paragraph" Fonts at larger sizes won't look that well. I, for example, have used Bebas Neue for posters in small pieces of text. And Friz Quadrata was used for the Logo, at a bigger size compared to what I used Bebas Neue for.

Now, when sending a file for printing, export as a PDF, and send the Text (Heading/Paragraph) as Vector, either by embbeding the Fonts or by converting it to curves. As a general rule, when using Open Source Fonts (with a SIL License, por example), I embed the text and when using Commercial Fonts, I convert them to curves (since some Foundries won't let you embed the Fonts unles the Printer folks have it Licensed as well).

Best regards!

[Mithferion]

Also, as general rule ti identify a Heading Font vs a Display Fonts, would be in the design itself. For exmaple, in the following Screenshot, inside the red square, you can see some design features that allow legibility at small sizes for Source Sans Pro, while Avenir can be used perfectly at a large size (even it works beautifully at small sizes, but I tend to use it for Logos and Headers):

There are other things to consider. For example, the X Height and Cap Height. Larger X/Cap Height is better for small text, and vice versa, smaller X/Cap Height works well for larger sizes. See the next example, with Neue Haas Grotesk in its both variants (also notice that at the same point size and weight, the Text variant runs wider):

Best regards!

[Mithferion]

This video can be worth watching on the Paragraph stuff that I talked about, since it shows some basic Design Principles:

Best regards!