A senior designer told me my fonts were too small and it took me a week to admit he was right

Last month I shared a flyer I made for a local food drive on this forum. Someone who said they had 30 years in print design commented that my body text was unreadable at 10 points. I was defensive at first because I thought it looked clean and modern. But I opened up my file and bumped everything up to 12 points for body copy and 16 for anything that needed to be scanned fast. The difference was immediate - suddenly the information felt accessible instead of cramped. I realized a lot of beginner designers including me are copying trendy small text from the web without thinking about real people trying to read things on a bus or in bad light. Has anyone else gotten pushback on font sizes and changed their approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthony1659d ago

I had almost the same realization last year after a friend who wears bifocals told me he couldn't read a poster I designed for his shop. I dropped the trendy 8pt captions and went to 11pt minimum, and suddenly things just looked more inviting and professional. It's humbling but seeing how people actually interact with your work beats any aesthetic preference you might have, right?

briannguyen9d ago

Honestly, I think you might be overthinking it a bit. Most people aren't staring at posters looking for tiny details, they either get the message or they don't. Not sure going from 8pt to 11pt is some big design revelation, @anthony165, but hey as long as your friend's happy that's what matters right?