Here is guest post number 2 for you. This one was written for me by a friend from high school, Andrew Arifin. He is a first year student at the University of Western Ontario and is studying Bio-med. He has a passion for design, and has some very important thoughts on type faces to share with the masses. Please enjoy and remember: pay attention to your face.

Wondering why you’re not landing those job interviews? Why no one takes your work seriously? Hint: stop using Comic Sans as your typeface for… pretty much anything (unless you are under the age of 10 or are using said font for an intended ironic effect). As unfair as it may be, it’s a well-known fact that most of us judge things on looks.

Changing a typeface is pretty simple: select your desired font from the menu of your text editor and presto! The longest time is spent on actually choosing which font to apply. (Not unlike choosing what to wear.) Like how the soundtrack of a movie should complement the film’s themes, it’s widely accepted that the font of a piece of text should reflect the work. It is therefore unfortunate that people don’t take the time to be conscious about the format of their texts.

Still unconvinced that fonts don’t have an impact on the message of people’s work? Consider a corporate website: what would it look like if the fonts were ill-suited? In case you need some help imagining this scenario, below is a screenshot of the RBC website — if it used a more playful font.

See how it makes the website inappropriateand detracts from its services? I would even start to doubt if I am even on the right website (phishing scams are no laughing matter).

Sometimes, the typeface you chose could be so unsuitable that people focus more on the format of your text than the actual content itself. Take, for example, Cleveland Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert’s online rant about losing LeBron James. It was entirely done in the Comic Sans typeface, and consequently, the format of the article garnered more attention that the content itself. (I repeat: this is not what you want to happen.)

The point of my rant is simple: while you shouldn’t change your human face, I encourage you to be more mindful when choosing fonts for your work. For your sake and the rest of the world’s.