Selecting Fonts

[Farhan]

As I and many of you believe that fonts have their own language and can greatly influence the mood of a person visiting the site. I have been very concerned while using fonts when targeting different age groups. However, " verdana" or “ Arial” have been my choices at the end of the day.

Having teenagers as my target market is their any special font which may be more suitable for that age group?

[Advisor]

The teens at my house seem to like "Comic Sans Serif" if it's any help!

Jill

[MazY]

Originally posted by Farhan
I have been very concerned while using fonts when targeting different age groups. However, " verdana" or “ Arial” have been my choices at the end of the day.

Having teenagers as my target market is their any special font which may be more suitable for that age group?

That's what I like to see - someone who actually cares about their target audience, enough to think about the small things.

You are, to a degree, a tad limited by the fonts on the user's system. Ergo, comic is not generally a good idea.

I tend to use the following font family these days as they give a general modern look across most platforms, including the mac.

arial, verdana, helvetica, trebuchet

PS. I'd like to see this teen site of yours at some time...

[SimpleQuery]

Does talking about this bother you?

[ihelpyou]

hey simple, if you are not going to post anything meaningful in here, then please don't post. Here is the extent of your 3-4 posts in here so far;

http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=13827

what do you think?

[crifer]

Farhan

If you going to use the fonts in gif images i can recommend some fonts I personaly think is "cool" and since Im almost a teen (20 years) maybe they are good :)

I think they all are free fonts:

Curlz MT
firefly
grotto
Horseshoes and lemonade
Palatino linotype (i think that is the google font)

I found most of them at:
http://www.freepcfonts.com/index.html
http://www.flashkit.com/fonts/index.shtml

If your not going to use them in gifs, go with MazY's suggestion in the post above.

[Farhan]

Originally posted by MazY
PS. I'd like to see this teen site of yours at some time...

Sure Maz, I ll let you know as soon as I get over with it
and thanks for the advice on Fonts

Crifer
thanx
I'll just check them out!

[MazY]

Farham

Came across this earlier today if it helps:

Internet Key to Communication Among Youth

By Michael Pastore

The Internet has become the primary communication tool for teens, surpassing even the telephone among some groups, according to a study by AOL.

The national survey of more 6,700 teens and parents of teens was conducted by AOL subsidiary Digital Market Services, Inc. It found that 81 percent of teens between the ages of 12 to 17 use the Internet to e-mail friends or relatives while 70 percent use it for instant messaging to send instant text messages both from ones' computer and via wireless devices. Among older teens (18 to 19 years), these statistics jump to 91 percent for e-mail and 83 percent for instant messaging. Fifty-six percent of teens aged 18 to 19 prefer the Internet to the telephone.

Teens also depend on the Internet as an educational resource. Fifty-eight percent of younger teens (12 to 17) consult online resources for guidance on their homework assignments, while 61 percent of older teens (18 to 19 years) turn to the Internet for help completing their schoolwork. More than one-quarter (26 percent) of younger teens go online to access news and current events while 61 percent of older teens do the same.

It comes as no surprise that downloading digital music is one of the most popular online entertainment activities for teens. The study found that 55 percent of younger teens between the ages of 12 and 17 years go online to listen and download digital music; this figure jumps to 65 percent for older teens aged 18 and 19 years. Playing games online is even more popular, but favors younger teens. Seventy percent of younger teens and 60 percent of older teens use the Internet to play games. Fifty-one percent of older teens rely on the Web when planning vacations and searching for travel information.

Twenty-five percent of the parents surveyed indicated that their teens currently use cell phones with instant messaging and/or e-mail capability. When asked which wireless devices their teen would most like to own, 51 percent responded a cell phone with messaging capability.

While the AOL survey asked about wireless, research from Forrester examined the effect broadband access has on wired youth (Forrester's research tracked ages 13 to 22). Less than half (43 percent) of online youth have broadband access, Forrester found, but 89 percent of those with broadband access regularly use it at home.

Young broadband users, like older broadband users, spend more time online than their dial-up counterparts (by five hours per week). Among the 15 online activities Forrester tracked broadband-using youth are more likely to perform all of them except entering sweepstakes. Broadband youths are twice as likely to use streaming media than dial-up youths; 28 percent more likely to play Internet games; 22 percent more likely to read product reviews; and 15 percent more likely to visit company or brand Web sites.

In the three months before the Forrester survey, broadband youth were 20 percent more likely to have made an online purchase, spending 26 percent more than dial-up youth in part because broadband youth have 25 percent more disposable income. Broadband youth are 31 percent more likely to purchase tech-related products such as software, hardware and consumer electronics.

[MazY]

And....

Web Influences Offline Purchases, Especially Among Teens

By Michael Pastore

The growth rate of e-commerce sales has begun to slow from its torrid pace of recent years, but online consumers continue to use the Web for shopping, if not buying. Ninety-two percent of online consumers use the Internet to shop and/or purchase online, according to a report by The NPD Group, Inc., which shows that even those consumers who aren't making purchases online are still influenced by what they see on retailers' Web sites.

Eighty-four percent of occasional buyers, those who say they have made an online purchase only once or less in the past six months, describe their usual use of the Internet for shopping as "I usually shop online and go offline to purchase."

"Measuring online sales alone cannot capture the full benefit of a retailer having an Internet presence. We know that even consumers who don't typically purchase online are using retailers' Web sites to browse and decide what to buy," said Pamela Smith, vice president of NPD online research. "Although it may not result in a purchase at that time, it could translate directly into an offline sale."

NPD's research also found that consumers who currently shop at mass merchandisers say they will likely remain more loyal to traditional store locations for future purchases, while others who have traditionally shopped through catalogs say they are turning to the Web to make more purchases.

How Internet is Used for Shopping
Shop Online, Purchase Offline 51%
Shop Online, Purchase Online 40%
Shop Offline, Purchase Online 9%
Source: NPD Online Research

The largest market for online shoppers who don't purchase online is most likely teenagers, who are increasingly computer-savvy, but lack credit cards. According to research by Jupiter Media Metrix, 89 percent of teens (ages 13 to 17) have never made an online purchase, but 29 percent research products on the Internet before buying them at stores.

The Jupiter research also found that teens visit the same sites as adults (ages 18 and up) -- including popular e-commerce sites such as Amazon.com and eBay. According to Jupiter analysts, marketers must consider the influence of online window-shopping when developing advertising campaigns and advise companies to incorporate a singular message across multiple ad channels.

"Many teens use the Internet as a shopping mall -- a place to meet friends, play games and shop -- even without the intent to purchase," said Jared Blank, Jupiter Media Metrix analyst. "Teens spend almost as much time on Amazon.com as adults, even though few of those teens can make purchases on the site. Marketers need to recognize the value the Web has on influencing purchases that may take place offline."

Top Web Sites Visited by Teens
April 2001
Web site Unique
Visitors
(000)
Yahoo! 5,264
MSN 4,433
AOL.com 3,623
Passport 3,099
Hotmail 3,034
Source: Jupiter Media Metrix

Between April 2000 and April 2001, the growth of the adult online population outpaced the teen population. According to Media Metrix ratings data, the number of adults online increased 18 percent, reaching a total of over 71 million users. The teen population increased 11 percent in April, reaching a total of almost 9 million. The data also reveal that adults go online more often than teenagers -- the average adult logged on 15 days in April, while teenagers used the Internet an average of nine days in April.

While shopping sites are popular with teens, Media Metrix data found that teens spend the most number of minutes using the Yahoo! and MSN portals and checking e-mail at Hotmail. Teens use these sites intensely, spending 45, 50 and 48 minutes per month on each site, respectively. The data also show that teens spend a considerable amount of time (an average of 52 minutes in April) on eBay. While adults spend much more time on eBay (an average of 112 minutes in April), teens spend a significant amount of time on the site considering they don't have the checkbook or credit card required to make many of the purchases.

"Integrating online and offline channels is imperative for retailers trying to reach teenagers," Blank said. "Since so few teenagers purchase online, the Web should be used as an additional means of branding and information dissemination. Players who do this well ensure that their customer communications, whether it's informational or promotional, share the same messaging on the Web, in their catalogs, and in their stores."

[Farhan]

Thanks for this great info Maz,
It will help me a lot !