10/31/2005 1:48:05 PM

I recently attended a Chris Tomlin concert and loved the font they used for projecting the lyrics of the songs.  I have found some Adobe fonts I like, but PS fonts are not currently supported. 

What fonts are you finding works best?

10/31/2005 2:12:50 PM

We just had a very long discussion on this over at churchmedia.net

http://www.churchmedia.net/community/forum/showthread.php?t=10233

I just switched ours from Eras Demi to Tahoma. I know, it was a mad and impetuous change, but no one left the church!

The main wisdom seems to be to use a san serif font with some weight to it.

I thought the most interesting suggestion was Akbar
http://www.wobblymusic.com/groening/akbar.html

He only used it during youth service, however.

You can go to the churchmedia thread above for A LOT of suggestions.

(Sure wish I could get url tags to work in FireFox )


Edit by Reid on 11/4/05:  I got you covered Joel.  I added the link tags for you (and I am using Firefox).  You just have to do it in the HTML edit mode.

11/2/2005 8:54:10 AM

I was surprised to notice how many said "we use this font" or "we use that font". Before reading those posts I had assumed everyone, absolutely everyone, used a variety of fonts. Why would anyone want to use the same font over and over again, I thought?

Oh well, each to his own. I'll continue using a variety of fonts (even serifs when it fits) with various motion backgrounds, some dark, some light. I avoid reusing the same background for many months. I'll color text white or yellow or black or whatever fits the background best. Sometimes I'll use the outline feature, more often using shadows but adjusting the offset or light direction; in general, I try to use variety in an attempt to keep the display fresh looking (not that I succeed very often).

Also it takes effort to control line lengths and number of lines and trying to keep the display from getting too cluttered.

As an aside, I did a double take when one poster said he was changing his preferred font and was therefore in the process of going through his entire song database to update the text to his new favorite font.

Song database??? Fonts in the database? What software is he using?

11/2/2005 10:27:57 AM

We'll adjust the color, shadow and such so it will go best with the background. But we keep the same font for the song lyrics throughout the program to give some commonality throughout.

Around Christmas, I generally switch to a different font, just to dress it up some. But we get our variety from the backgrounds and color, not the font itself.

But, as you say, to each his own.

11/4/2005 6:01:36 AM

We always use Verdana for songs but sometimes I do use Tahoma.  I do want to start changing the fonts though occasionally if it is a "youth" song or something like that.

Karen

11/4/2005 9:36:17 AM

Careful about marking things as youth songs, and such. Certian folks will learn that if that font comes up, they will automatically not like the song.

I am considering setting a seperate saved profile for the youth to use on wednesday night, so they can pick a different font (akbar or whatever) and a default background that they like and I could switch back to our normal service settings by loading in a different set of saved settings.

...as long as we remembered to switch back on the weekend.

11/4/2005 10:52:47 AM

For songs we recently started using Trebuchet. For scriptures I like to use Eras Medium. However, I change it up regularly depending on the style or feel of the current message series. Right now Tahoma with a yellow shadow and blue face is applicable.

11/4/2005 8:54:36 PM

Incidently, the Verdona font was designed specifically for computer screen presentation, as opposed to printing.  You can read more about this at Microsoft's new font blog...yes, there is a font blog.  Here it is: fontblog.

11/5/2005 7:27:37 PM

Thanks, Osborne!

That never occurred to me about the youth fonts.  Can you believe it?  A font blog? 

11/7/2005 8:25:43 AM

That's true from the viewpoint of the specific font itself, but it is also true that Apple invented TrueType technology for displaying fonts on CRT monitors (during the era when monitors were lower resolution than today). Microsoft has since then continued to perform TrueType research and development, which eventually led to their ClearType technology, designed for LCD monitors (Remember, projectors are LCD monitors). It is available for XP; I'm not sure about earlier versions.

2/28/2006 9:38:27 AM

century gothic. century gothic. century gothic. the most clean, unobtrusive font ever. my favorite by far!

2/28/2006 11:16:31 AM

Hmm. I might have to check that out. Maybe in the spring when it's time to lighten things up a bit.

2/28/2006 11:34:10 AM

Songs - For our first two years of using SSP I've used Franklin Gothic Medium - it's a bit thicker than most and stand out on the screen.

However recently I changed to Tahoma - it has a more interesting look.

I just tried Century Gothic and I must say I like how it looks. Maybe it's time for another change.

Slides - Such as Sermon slides or Announcements, I use a multitude of fonts to make the slides interesting and unique.

Scripture - I usually stick with a font for Scripture for a few weeks - I really like Papyrus and a new one I found called BibleScrT.

~ Kirsten

3/9/2006 9:53:58 AM

We use Ariel usually because it is so easy to read. But Papyrus is very interesting if you can get it large enough with some good contrast. Then we try various others for variety. But when it may be difficult to read because of the background, we usually resort back to Ariel or we make it BOLD.
We are fairly new at this.

Wayne Taylor
Cable, OH

5/5/2006 1:41:14 PM

I use a variety of fonts, colors, shadows, backgrounds, etc. I can't see using the same ones over and over. Believe it or not for scriptures my favorite is Times New Roman italisized. I agree with the song thing. I try to keep songs during the same service close to the same properties or at least the same theme. We have a "blended" service and some of the old folks already speak their mind enough about the "kids' music". 

Joe 

11/26/2006 5:23:48 PM

I think it is important to keep a consistant font for the project you are working on.  So don't use a conservative font for one song and a totally radical one on the next song.
I'm mostly doing webdesign, and just started helping out at church with the SSP programs, but one thing that should stay the same is the consistancy of fonts in any single project (may this be for slides with SSP, web, print. etc.).  Context is pretty important to me too. The Christmas Carol project I'm working on, I will use a script font for the titles and New Times Roman for the lyrics.. Gives the whole project a good traditional look.

11/27/2006 5:55:32 AM

I tend to tailor to the theme (or point) of the song -

The first song might be rock with a small cross on the left showing through a semi-transparent daybreak ocean scene. Two lines of lyrics are adjusted away from the cross and kept on the shore (not the water or sky) and I might suggest a medium sans font.

Next comes a baroque hymn and I might use a nature scene video with an old country church in the distance and turn the brightness effect down, and use a very bold serif font, even one with a bit of formality to it. Lyrics are limited to one or two lines. (This is a case where I wish SSP lyrics were inside text objects and I could use a semi-transparent fill).

Next comes a slow repetitious song with an image of someone praying layered behind a semi-transparent clouds built-in visualization. Four lines of a plain sans might show up well with this one.

Then comes a bluegrass-style gospel song with a 1/4 size watermark graphic of a figure kneeling at the cross positioned under an abstract semi-transparent video having radiant lines flowing through the cross. I'd limit the lyrics to the upper-right 2/3's, so a condensed sans is absolutely necessary.

Once in a song about Jesus the king I used an INRI watermark banner positioned so it would show through a video of the wall of Jerusalem with plant leaves waving in the foreground. Two lines of lyrics are "projected" on the "wall" (except I didn't use the hinge effect, though I was tempted to). A modern well-rounded very fat font with outline turned on worked great.

Just some other ideas to try...

11/27/2006 6:54:48 AM

Actually, right now we are using plain old Tahoma. The font was created to be viewed in presentations and works well with all kinds of backgrounds.

I leave the fancy font stuff for the sermons and announcements. For the songs, legibility is king.