Double Serpent Design – World Class Web Design based in Seattle, Washington

The Problem with Papyrus

Anyone who’s spent any time around me knows: I can’t stand the Papyrus font. Every time I see it, I make some snarky-ass comment. And not one of those 10-second comments, which strikes quickly and then disappears, we’re talking more like a ten minute rant. So I figured I’d spare you all the trouble and just write a bloody article about it, so every time someone asks me about it, I can direct them here.

Listen up, friends, clients and potential clients: I used to be a Papyrus lover too.

Oh yes, whenever I needed to print up something spiritually moving or lovingly-but-progressively-minded, Papyrus was my go-to font. But then I became a designer, and I learned quickly:

EVERY WOO-WOO PERSON OUT THERE LOVES PAPYRUS — AND THEY ALL USE IT!

And that, in a nutshell, is the problem. Nearly one hundred percent** of what we shall call “the woo-woo tribe” loves Papyrus. Let us say, for argument’s sake, that this includes spiritual types, hippies, organic/health/yoga nuts, energy workers, massage therapists, counselors and so on. They use it on their websites, in their brochures, their business cards, their restaurant menus, their billboards… I’ve even seen it on government-sponsored environmental information signs (since caring about the environment is clearly something only hippies do).

If this were a font of the Arial or Times New Roman variety – simple, functional, easy to read – then we wouldn’t be having this (albeit one-sided) conversation. But this is not the case with Papyrus. It’s a pretty font. One designed to draw attention to itself, with fancy little notches in the sides of the letters reminiscent of ancient Egyptian scrolls.

These types of fonts are meant to be used sparingly, perhaps in your website header or your business name on marketing materials. So when you’re typing up your entire restaurant menu in Papyrus, it’s a little over the top; what you need is something that is functional and easy to read. Not something that draws attention to itself and slows people down.

This, however, brings us to the second problem: if “pretty fonts” are supposed to bring artistry and character to your design, Papyrus would be a good choice… in a vacuum. Since every other woo-woo person is using it, however, you blend in more than you stand out. You wind up making no statement at all about the uniqueness of your particular business – and making a statement is important in today’s economy! The only personality that shines through Papyrus, at this point, is “woo-woo,” and it’s identical to everybody else’s woo-woo.

(I will admit, for the record, that there is a certain cultural branding one could take advantage of here, where all a client needs to see something written in Papyrus to know that your business is for the woo-woo crowd. But I, for one, am not for cultural uniformity!)

So if not Papyrus, then what? So glad you asked! There are literally thousands of fonts to choose from. The reason Papyrus gets chosen so often is that it’s already installed on your operating system, whether you’re on a Mac or a PC. But when you reach out to the vast world of the internet, there are plenty of free fonts to choose from. One of my favourite sites is dafont.com. They’ve got their fonts categorized under labels such as “decorative” or “retro,” and clearly outline the wishes of the designer for each font (some are just plain free, while others are free for personal use or ask for a donation). They’re easy enough to install once you’ve downloaded them, and if you’re having a designer like myself whip something up, all you need to do is give me the name or URL and we’re good to go.

So whether you’re creating your first website or putting together a poster for an upcoming workshop, consider using a different font. One that truly expresses the uniqueness of your particular business, and not just the most convenient spiritual-feeling font you run across. Dare to let you and your business shine!

**This is not even remotely a fact-based statistic and is based purely on my observation and irritation.

Do You Scandalize Your Facebook Friends with Status Updates? Want it Without the Fallout? Here's How to Have it Both Ways!

So you have all kinds of juicy tidbits you want to share on Facebook, whether it’s links to cool articles, fascinating quotes or something scandalous you just did. And while you love sharing this kind of thing with your friends, maybe you’re not so hot on your mom, or boss, or cousin seeing the same thing. (I’ve got a few psychologist friends who’ve made a lot of money off this particular kind of drama, so trust me – you’re not the only one.) What’s a girl to do?

CREATING LISTS WITHIN LISTS

While this isn’t a recent development, Facebook isn’t always up front with new changes they make, so it can sometimes take a while to catch up on their new tweaks (both good and bad – check out this article on Facebook’s recent – and creepy – face recognition technology and why you might want to tag pictures of trees as yourself). For a couple years now there’s been an option to create lists within your friends list, but not everyone’s had the time to investigate this therapy-cost-saving- option. I’ll walk you through it!

Go to your profile and click on “friends” (should be listed in the left hand column beneath your profile pic).
On the top right click “edit friends.”
Again on the top right click “create list.”
A box will pop up that says “create new list.” Beneath the title there’s a box that says “enter a name.” Type in the name of the list you’d like to create (you could call it “family,” “conservative friends” or whatever list you’re looking to create).
Click on all the friends you’d like to put on the list, and then click “create list” at the bottom of the box.

Great! Now you have a sub-list of friends. What are you going to do with it?

GENERAL PRIVACY VS. CUSTOMIZED PRIVACY

OK, so if you wanted to, you could go to your account (top right), click “privacy settings” and click “customize settings.” You could, for example, choose “posts by me”, click on the current setting and click “edit” and type up the name of the new list in the “hide this from” field. In which case nobody on that list would ever see anything you posted. (Like they’d never get suspicious that something was up! I don’t know about you but my Mom uses my Facebook status updates to make sure I’m still alive.)

Yes, you could do that… but if you’re like me, you’re probably fine with everyone seeing most of your posts, just not certain ones. In that case, here’s what to do:

Go to your profile, or your news feed, or wherever you usually go when you’d like to post. Type in whatever status or link you’d like to share (but don’t click share quite yet).
Notice the little picture of the lock beneath your status and click on it.
Choose “edit.”

Where it says “Hide this from”, type in the name of the list you created earlier (whether it’s “family” or what have you).
Click “save setting,” then click “share” as you usually would…

…and PRESTO CHANGO you’re done! JUST THAT ONE POST is hidden from your customized list; your next post will be back to normal. (Unless you want this to be the new normal, in which case, before you click “save setting” check off the box that says “make this my default setting.)

FYI you can also do the opposite: if you’d like to make a list of people you WANT to see you certain updates (but nobody else) then when you click on the lock image you can choose “make this visible to: specific people” and type in the name of the list you WANT. Whatever method rubs you the right way.

Pretty neat, eh? Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or if you’d like to pass on the thanks from your Mom. And if you found this useful, take a moment to like Double Serpent Design on Facebook!

Coming Soon!

Look here for articles in the near future on what to put on your homepage, choosing a web host, Search Engine Optimization and more.