Let me tell you about fonts

[And I’ll come right to the point. You don’t need an intro trying to describe a question you might be asking yourself or an uncalled for typographic history lesson.]

When you’re working in PowerPoint (or working on something that will likely wind up in PowerPoint), like it or not, your font choices are limited. By default, unless someone really knows what they’re doing, all of your content is going to be set in Calibri. This is bad.

But I’ll come back to that.

Here’s what I know about fonts. Serifs improve readability on paper but often look odd on screen — sans serifs tend to be cleaner and more elegant. Optimal readability does not have to be our ambition: Making the content look appealing is the goal and if reading is slightly retarded by deploying a smart-looking font, that’s all right.

Fonts with curved lines and rounded corners are informal and inviting, while straight edges and sharp corners look cold and inflexible. Consider your objectives: Do you want to influence your audience, or are you interested in launching a discussion? The straight edge will reinforce your credibility (it really will). Rounded corners will put people at ease somewhat and might help get them talking and sharing thoughts.

Certain fonts are recognizable and their use communicates a clear message …

• Calibri, the default: The speaker does the bare minimum

• Comic Sans, blatantly informal: This is not a serious matter

• Times New Roman, the old standby: The speaker is a stick in the mud

• Arial: All business, sensible, perhaps no fun

• Impact: Desperation

• Helvetica neue: The speaker knows something about design

Now that it is the default font across the Microsoft Suite, Calibri is on every “toilet not working” sign in every public restroom in the world. Don’t use Calibri. Please. Choose something else — anything else — even choosing Papyrus would be better than using what PowerPoint started you off with.

Know it. Recognize it. Stay away from it, and challenge anyone who uses it.

About those limitations though: It would seem that since PowerPoint gives us hundreds of fonts to choose from, we are free to use hundreds of fonts. Be careful about this: Not everyone in your office and not everyone you might have to share a presentation with will have all the same fonts you have. If you’re on a Mac and you send a file to a Windows user, they may not see what you see. It’s best to limit yourself to the most commonly available fonts (Google it — this changes periodically), and to test your file with someone you intend to share it with before distributing it widely.

Pro tip: It’s pronounced noy-uh [but not quite — instead of the uh sound, it’s closer to ĕ (the short e)].