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Usage of Ligatures in Corporate Font and Business Letters?
Posted by Anke Gaksch in
29 Nov 2005 — 10:08pm
29 Nov 2005 — 10:08pm
hey members and professionals,
i have a general question regarding ligatures. i know ligatures from books, usually used when it's long text. for ME ligatures have an old-style look and feel. nice, but i wouldn't use it in business letters etc.
we purchased the font kievit to use as corporate font.
now my client wanted to know how to use the ligature. i proposed not to use the ligatures, because of what i've already written.
my clients opinion is that it gives a sophisticated feeling.
we both asked ourself, is it just a matter of personal and subjective feeling? and why not use it everywhere?
sorry i am still a design student...
WHEN DO YOU USE ligautres? would you use them for a company which does marketing, design and communications?
opinions greatly appreciated :-)
a.
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29 Nov 2005 — 10:42pm
I agree with your first impulse. I'm not experienced with FF Kievit, but if the ligatures are too noticable, the addition of them could come off looking strange in places like faxes and letters.
In general, I would say inclusion depends on the face and instance. For example, Kennerly "fi" ligature would be fine -- maybe even preferable to none, but "st" (overhand swoop connection) would be a bit strange.
Hrm... if your client needs help with using specialized characters, maybe they should steer clear anyway.
29 Nov 2005 — 10:51pm
I'll tend to agree, but in the end, it's the client who decides. Hopefully you are a persuasive person.
29 Nov 2005 — 11:16pm
I'd generally agree with the two above. While "fi" "ff" etc might be subtle enough to not be noticable, something pronounced and unexpected might be completely distracting. One might spend time pondering the ligature and miss the point of the text completely..
or maybe that's just me. hm
30 Nov 2005 — 6:21am
Considering that the standard f ligatures are meant to improve legibility, I see no problem with using them. In most good fonts, the reader will not even notice a standard ligature, which are meant to be quiet and unassuming. To me, not using the fi usually adds unnecessary weight and offsets the color balance of the page.
Of course, I would stay away from the discretionary (ct, st, etc.) ligatures in almost every business setting.
30 Nov 2005 — 6:25am
but in the end, it’s the client who decides.
That all depends on how much they're paying you! I find few things more pleasurable than firing a cheap client who doesn't trust my judgement. ;-)
30 Nov 2005 — 7:50pm
Hmmm... you may have a point, if you don't need money i guess.
1 Dec 2005 — 12:19am
…a cheap client…
A cheap client doens't really help much if you need money…
1 Dec 2005 — 10:29pm
With almost any font, the standard f-ligatures should always be used, if present and usable automatically in the software the client is using. If the f-ligatures are ungainly and stand out, that design is arguably defective and shouldn't have been chosen in the first place.
Archaic ligatures such as ct and st are a different matter, of course, and have no place in typical business usage.