We stayed at a hotel on Sunday night in Dallas when Lyndzee and I went down to pick up the bridesmaids dresses for her wedding. It wasn’t too long after we checked out that I noticed an email from the hotel in my phone. I deleted it thinking that they would probably want my input on my stay and I would take care of that when I got home.

I was going through the email in my computer this morning and found that email again. This is what it looked like:

Say what? Even if you blow it up, it’s nearly impossible to decipher. I took a look at that and thought, “Okay, I don’t know what they are saying to me but I’m not interested. Next!”

There is a book by about just this subject by Colin Wheildon called of Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes?

I think this woman was just trying to make pretty shapes because I had no idea what she was trying to communicate to me. More importantly, I didn’t want to have to slow down to find out.

When people have as much to look at as they do these days, you really have to work at getting their attention. Putting a clear, readable font into your email is key if you want to even have a chance at getting your message read.

The Harlow Solid Italic font that she used (some of the letters in SILVER?)

was so impossibly hard to even take in much less read. It looked like a mess. If I were ever going to use that font, it would be sparingly on a graphic design that was bolstered up with some other clear, readable font.

When typing email, it’s better to use a serif font. Popular serif fonts are Times New Roman, Palatino, Georgia, Courier, Bookman and Garamond. Almost everything you read – books, magazines, newspapers – are written in a serif font. They are easier to read, seeming to simply flow together.

I wrote a reply to the lady who sent me the crazy font email. I offered her constructive criticism on her choice of font. I do hope that she will take my suggestion as what it is – HELP! – and not just think I’m a witch and disregard my advice.

I did have a nice stay at her hotel but I’m not sure if that’s why she contacted me. I can only guess. Or spend way too much time trying to decipher her email.