Monday 9 December 2013


Allow Pets at Rest to take you on a journey into font styles and design...

 For so many of us, when a pet dies, it's about much more than just losing an animal we loved. It may be a cliché to say it, but our pets are friends we share decades with. They are there during our low points and our high points, and they give a love that is as pure as can be.

 It goes without saying, then, that when their time of passing comes, you want their memory to remain exactly as feels right to you. And along with finding the perfect kind of memorial to choose, that means selecting a style of font that embodies the character of the pet you'll never forget.

 So many styles, so how do you choose one?
 
Selecting one font/typeface from literally hundreds isn't easy for anyone. In fact the more you discover, the less easy it can become! That doesn't mean it has to be a headache for weeks, of course.

The first thing to decide is how ornate and elaborate you would like the font to be. Bear in mind that if the font/typeface is too elaborate, it may become unreadable, and that if it is too simple, it may not do your pet's character justice. Fortunately, there are a few popular ones which fit the bill for a great many of us. Times New Roman is one – it's the font this blog post is written in, in fact, and it works so well because it is timeless, classic and with serifs that finish the letters beautifully.

Alternatively, you could go with Tahoma. Tahoma is a nice, bright, clear font that is very readable and simple. A more contemporary font without serifs, it's probably best suited to a more modern-style pet memorial.

Next up, we have Ms Boli. A fun and lively font – as is obvious by now! – this one will work wonders for a pet who was always fun to be around, or maybe a bit mischievous! Then again,  Arial Black is also a very good option. Particularly if your dog or cat was bold and loved being the centre of attention.

For more refined pets, however, you'll want to consider fonts similar to Verdana. Light and simple, Verdana shares many of the qualities of Tahoma and allows for a little more space between words and characters.

Font size is also an important issue, as is a font's ability to print well in numerical form. As numbers will form an important part of your pet memorial, it's vital to make sure that the font you have chosen does numbers or symbols well (not all do!).

And now for one last note on combining fonts: providing you're careful and selective, there's no reason why a memorial can't combine several fonts together. For practical reasons, though, we'd suggest not using more than 2 fonts. If you are going to use several on the same piece, it's probably best they are reasonably similar, too. If there is too much contrast between the styles, you may end up taking away from the memory and creating something which is more of a spectacle.
 
If you would like to have more than one font used simply let us know either when placing your order online or by emailing us or giving us a call.

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