Agate font?

San-serif font. (Any of the Helvetica derivatives works fine.) It has to be visually distinct from body copy.

Also resist the temptation to introduce too many different fonts for subheads, bold headers, tags, etc etc. Makes the page look goofy and cluttered.

K.I.S.S.

 

Never use a serif font that small. Unreadable.
A multitude of condensed san-serif fonts will work.
The Franklin Gothic family, at 6.5pt, is best. (Helvetica C, the same.) The structure and readability are most important at that size.

 

As noted in my initial post, this paper has never run agate. Not sure why, but it never did, so now I'm changing that. Hence, asking what types of fonts everyone here uses.

 

The font the NCAA uses in its Final Four record book is great. Haven't the foggiest idea what its called, though.

 

We have beautiful agate, and it's all in Helvetica-based fonts (mostly condensed, bold and plain) at 6 pt with 6.5 pt leading.

The headers are Helvetica Black at 12 pt and the subheads are Helvetica Black at 9 pt, centered.

 

Whatever you do for headers, keep them within the same font family. Use the condensed for the numbers, black or bold for the headers, etc. GillSans is also a large family.

And Clerk, I just looked up the record book and that looks like Avant Garde. Another good sans serif, but the numerals aren't my favorite.

 

We use Gothic720 BT (whatever that is) 6.5 point size 7 on the leading. Reads fine.

 

If you have 9-pica columns ... and you're using a non-condensed type larger than 7-point ... you're going to have considerable trouble in tabular wire agate, making it all fit. Hockey standings are especially difficult.

I say this knowing that most people ARE using 7-point or below, but I think it bears mentioning for someone who is starting his agate stuff from scratch. You're going to be torn between trying to make it all readable and trying to make it all fit.

So use that as a rule of thumb ... if you're tempted to go up to 7.5 point to make it easier for the 60-year-olds to read, you're going to run into trouble. And if you try to take it down to 6-point, yes, it IS going to be difficult to read by anyone with less than 20-20 vision.

 

Using bolded font in the appropriate spots can make reading a lot easier if you're going below 7 for font size.

 

We used to use Helvetica, but now we're phasing in Frutiger at minus-30 kerning. It looks more modern.

 

Checked it against the Avant Garde on my computer and it doesn't match. Numerals are very different. Thanks for looking, though.

 

Try Avant Garde Gothic, if you've got it.