Font size

It has been said a million times - but still I see it - too many fonts spoil the letter or brochure.  Stick to one or two.   

I like to use Arial 20pt bold italic for my headlines and Times New Roman 11pt for the text, although obviously everyone has their favourites.  Garamond is a particular rave these days, and it looks fine.  It is a matter of taste, and the rules are simple

For the headline go big and bold - although normally not much bigger than 20pt

For the text stay with a normal font that people are used to reading. 

You can sometimes trip over into bold italic in the text but you really have to keep it limited.  Too much and it loses all its impact.  Sometimes you see a whole paragraph in bold and that makes it unreadable.

The same can be said of BLOCK CAPITALS.  WRITE A WHOLE LOAD OF STUFF IN BLOCK CAPS AND IT IS HARD TO READ.  CONVENTIONALLY THIS IS KNOWN IN THE WORLD OF EMAILS AS SHOUTING and you really should try to avoid it.  Personally I avoid any block capitals anywhere - it just doesn't seem to work to me.  

Finally as for colour, I find black text still as good as anything - although printing it on yellow can have quite a dramatic effect.

Free analysis of your mailshot

This article is written by Tony Attwood, Chairman of Hamilton House Mailings Ltd.  If you would like to discuss the writing or design of your mailing campaign, or indeed a single mailshot, with Tony, without cost or obligation, just call 01536 399 000, or email Creative@hamilton-house.com   You can also send Tony a copy of your latest advert and he will call you back with his thoughts on how your response rate could be raised - again without cost or obligation.