Pixel Fonts
Selecting the best Pixel Fonts for Image Captions
Designers use pixel fonts when they need a good font that looks good when the text is really small. Usually this for text on photos or for navigation buttons.
There are two-pixel font families that are in just about every Macintosh font library - Mini7 and Tenacity. These aren't there by default, you'll have to download them.
Pixel fonts work best in bitmap programs such as Photoshop, Pixelmator. Turn off any anti-alias.
Mini 7
Mini 7 looks great at 7 points, making it one of the smallest font types available. Mini 7 is only available as an uppercase font style. You can't get any fancy character types too. Sorry names with accents but it won't work with Mini 7.
Despite the limitations, Mini7 is one of the most popular pixel base fonts on the Internet.
Mini 7 is available in Condensed, Condensed-Bold, Extended, Extended-Bold, Tight, Extras and Bold
Tenacity
Tenacity is a more developed font and looks good at 10 or 20 points.
Tenacity also comes with additional styles such as Caps, Condensed, Condensed-Bold, Extended, Extended-Bold, Extras and Bold.
Which is the Better Font?
A few years ago, I did a quick page (before blogs was a thing) on the best caption font. Here's a reprint of my findings.
Using Fonts in Photo Captions
The following are examples of several Macintosh font types being used as captions.
Recomended Fonts
- Alegreya Sans SC
- Geneva
- Tenacity
- Mini 7
- Helvetica
- VT100
- Verdana
I believe that Verdana 10 Point and Tenacity Condensed 10 Point are the best choices for using as caption fonts.
Download a larger high quality compairson: Full Caption Stack (675k)
Which font do you think is the best Pixel based font?