Serif v. Sans Serif Fonts for Song Lyrics

When designing new slides for worship songs, which fonts should you use? Serif or Sans Serif? Or both? This is a common question and in an age of an ever-evolving church culture, which will resonate the most with churchgoers? Below is a list of pros and cons for both options and a few tips for designing the best slides possible!

Serif

Pro:

• Commonly used in books and helps readers digest text in lengthy portions
• Looks more traditional (for more classic church audiences)
• Helps guide the eye from letter to letter, allows for easier reading

Con:

• Can become blurry or out of focus when projected onto a screen
• Has a traditional tone (for more modern church audiences)
• Smaller text can become illegible

Common Serif fonts:

Adobe Garamond, Times New Roman, Rockwell

Sans Serif

Pro:

• Modern and minimal style allows for an updated look for church slides
• Easy to read on the web and screens compared to other fonts
• Smaller text is easy to read

Con:

• More difficult to read on printed materials
• Text may be too modern for some church audiences

Common Sans Serif fonts:

Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma

Best Practices for Font Usage:

1. Never use more than two fonts on one slide or presentation. Using more than two will begin to confuse the reader and will not allow for simple and easy reading.
2. Always use Sans Serif fonts when creating Power Point presentations with small text since the resolution of smaller Sans Serif text is much clearer than the resolution of smaller Serif text.
3. Use very simple and clean font types when creating worship slides, let the words and music evoke emotion, not the font.
4. Use a program, such as Proclaim, to easily create church presentations that look both professional and simple to understand. Proclaim Smart Media helps select the perfect font, text color, size, and positioning to ensure every service item you create is effortlessly beautiful.
5. Use contrasting colors for slides. Such as a white background with black lettering, or light blue background with dark grey text.