Font name equivalents

[Woody44]

Various discussions here have asked (and some answered) which font or fonts in the Megafont NOW collection are equivalents for popular "brand name" fonts from expensive type houses. There are so many fonts available, and so many variations in Megafont NOW, that it's difficult to know what to use when articles based on Adobe InDesign recommend certai fonts for various applications.

I would like to create a sort of concordance, a list of popular fonts with their equivalents in Megafont NOW. My list is currently in its infancy -- three listings. If anyone has investigated and found the Megafont NOW equivalent for well-known and/or widely used "name brand" fonts, please post the name of the commercial font and the Megafont NOW equivalent here, and I'll add them to the list.

Once the list reaches a sort or critical mass as to being large enough to be useful, I'll see about attaching it here, posting it here, or perhaps transmitting it to SoftMaker if they would be interested in promulgating it.

[lgsl]

Big publishers usually use Garamond or a variations of it (Adobe Garamond, Garamond Nova, New Garamond...). Others use Baskerville, or even Times New Roman. Yes there are exceptions to the rule, but mostly all publishers use serif fonts for body text, mostly with oldstyle serifs (like Garamond) or Transitional (like Baskerville).Modern and Slab serif are to be avoided for body text due how ward they can get to the eye.
Some books uses Sans-Serif fonts instead, mostly children books or books with lots of graphics or that requite small font sizes.
There is no cheat sheet, per se. You just need to know a bit about typography and check out for readability. There is no book out there, well maybe there is, that will tell you: for body text use X, Y or Z. And those who do give you subjective recommendations. Half of the time they just want to sell you font A or B. And turns out that A and B are just redrawn of other classic fonts and it just have small changes.
Every design book about typefaces will tell you the same: Every project is different and has its needs, the font face you choose to work with is part of that process. Ask yourself: what are the needs? If is body text you need something easy on the eyes with high readability. Is a title? Then go with something that is eye catching and works well in bigger sizes.
In short I would not worry much about "name brand" fonts and what an article says about what is trending on Adobe. It's just noise. Real world examples is a much better option than what a silly guide online, or someone in a forum tells you. Take a look at books about graphic design and typography: they all give you real world examples and gives you an analysis of what you are looking at: why it works, why it does not. Do the same. Go to libraries, book shops take a look at their offerings, many books say that typefaces they use. See what you like, what would be useful to you and try it out.When it comes to traditional books is, as I said, quite standard. Publishers play it safe most of the time.

[Woody44]

Big publishers usually use Garamond or a variations of it (Adobe Garamond, Garamond Nova, New Garamond...). Others use Baskerville, or even Times New Roman. Yes there are exceptions to the rule, but mostly all publishers use serif fonts for body text, mostly with oldstyle serifs (like Garamond) or Transitional (like Baskerville).Modern and Slab serif are to be avoided for body text due how ward they can get to the eye.
Some books uses Sans-Serif fonts instead, mostly children books or books with lots of graphics or that requite small font sizes.
There is no cheat sheet, per se. You just need to know a bit about typography and check out for readability. There is no book out there, well maybe there is, that will tell you: for body text use X, Y or Z. And those who do give you subjective recommendations. Half of the time they just want to sell you font A or B. And turns out that A and B are just redrawn of other classic fonts and it just have small changes.
Every design book about typefaces will tell you the same: Every project is different and has its needs, the font face you choose to work with is part of that process. Ask yourself: what are the needs? If is body text you need something easy on the eyes with high readability. Is a title? Then go with something that is eye catching and works well in bigger sizes.
In short I would not worry much about "name brand" fonts and what an article says about what is trending on Adobe. It's just noise. Real world examples is a much better option than what a silly guide online, or someone in a forum tells you. Take a look at books about graphic design and typography: they all give you real world examples and gives you an analysis of what you are looking at: why it works, why it does not. Do the same. Go to libraries, book shops take a look at their offerings, many books say that typefaces they use. See what you like, what would be useful to you and try it out.When it comes to traditional books is, as I said, quite standard. Publishers play it safe most of the time.

I am very well aware of what "big publishers" often use. My college degree is in graphic arts, and I have been involved in design for my entire adult life. I don't need to read books on graphic design -- I've written some of them.You have obviously COMPLETELY missed the point of my post.

I would like to create a sort of "concordance" to index "name brand" typefaces ("fonts") with their closest equivalents in Megafont NOW. If you are not interested in having such a reference, that's fine. Other people are interested.