In typography, as in dating, there are deal breakers. No one wants to struggle through a block of distorted, hard-to-read text any more than they want a rundown of your ex-girlfriend’s flaws on a first date. That sounds easy enough, right? But the tricky part is that not everyone agrees on what constitutes a type crime.

While there are some universal no-no’s that most designers can agree on, other preferences boil down to personal pet peeves or are dictated by a concept for the project at hand. Read on for a gut check on your own type choices—provided by a jury of your peers.

Making time for type
For David Schimmel, president and creative director of And Partners, one of the biggest gripes is boring type. He hates to see default-set type where nothing really sparks. “For us, type is a huge part of what we do in conveying meaning and reinforcing the message,” he says. “Know the rules but know how to break them to impart meaning and emotion.” To keep his own work fresh, Schimmel collects pieces of inspiration everywhere he goes. He saves catalogs and product hangtags and picks up fliers from coffee-shop counters— anything that catches his interest.

Another important step is taking the time to actually read the writer’s copy. Oscar Fernández, who teaches in the Digital Design Department at the University of Cincinnati, says this gives you the opportunity to think more carefully about legibility (whether readers can decipher the letters clearly) and readability (the full experience of comprehending the text). It’s also a chance to contemplate headings, subheads, and other ways the copy can be broken down for the audience.

Grooming habits
One of the most universal complaints from designers is that no one has taken the time to groom the type. “It looks like it just came off the computer, and no one paid attention to it,” says Todd Nesser, a design director at Larsen. Critical things to keep in mind include widows, orphans, punctuation, and appropriate letter spacing. And as Nesser points out, the rag shouldn’t draw pictures or create funny shapes. “Your eye is not supposed to be drawn to it,” he says. “It’s supposed to be a nice, soft edge.”

Richard Boynton, a partner at Wink, can’t stand bad quote marks. He hates it when an inch mark or foot mark masquerades as a quote mark or apostrophe. “The most common violation occurs in logos, surprisingly,” he says. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven by a Louie[foot mark]s Pizza or been subjected to a tagline that reads The [inch mark]Real Deal[inch mark] in personal banking.” He also thinks it’s time to drop that extra space after the period—a holdover from the days of the typewriter.

Personal pet peeves
Then there are the kinds of annoyances that fall squarely into the category of personal pet peeves, though most are backed up with some thoughtful rationale. Dave Bull, a senior partner at Shift Global, is tired of seeing Trajan used for movie titles. While it’s a beautifully proportioned typeface with roots that date back to Roman times, he says it often appears out of context. “It’s used for effect instead of appropriateness,” he says. Bull might consider Trajan a good choice for the film Gladiator, for example, but not when it shows up in the opening for the latest teen flick.

Other instances of good type gone wrong can be caused by not realizing that typefaces become closely identified with particular eras. It’s not the type’s fault—employing one of these gems without a certain amount of self-consciousness can make a designer look less than skillful. For example, Template Gothic, designed by Barry Deck in 1990, evokes a ’90s zeitgeist. Says Wink’s Boynton, “Sorry, but it’s time to put Template Gothic away unless you’re doing a retrospective. You’re not making anyone feel like the product is ‘new, cutting edge, and counterculture’ when using it anymore. That ship sailed over a decade ago.”

Fernández, on the other hand, would like designers to stop giving the cold shoulder to the ampersand. He thinks it’s a perfect choice for display copy, titling, and signage. “An ampersand is a beautiful form,” he says. “It enhances the readability. The connecting words stand out more and can be read more quickly.”

The list could go on and on. Schimmel thinks typefaces named after cities are generally ugly. Not surprisingly, Mark Simonson, a type and graphic designer at Mark Simonson Studio, is annoyed at the frequency with which designers rely on free fonts.

Personal preferences aside, Boynton sums it up best: “I think it all comes down to appreciation of the craft, being a student of the industry—knowing what’s going on now and what’s happened in the past—and being driven to improve your choices.” Surely that’s the type of statement every designer can get behind.