Unable to Decrease Font Size Below 10 in Zazzle Design Tool?

[Waqar_Muhammad]

Has anyone else experienced difficulty decreasing font size to under 10 in the Zazzle design tool? Is this a new rule implemented by Zazzle or a glitch in the system?

[Jadendreamer13]

I noticed it last week when I was designing dog ID tags. I think in my case, the type size could not be set below 10 points due to a potential readability issue. I have not noticed this limitation on other products.

[SheaPrints]

Yes, I've noticed it on golf balls (10) and ink stamps (9). I agree about the potential readability issues!

[almdrs]

I noticed that yesterday. 
I've seen some issues like not being able to move the objects with the mouse.

[Connie]

Certain products have the size limit. It's not a glitch. It can be frustrating sometimes, because certain fonts are HUGE, and other's are tiny, so 10pt isn't small enough to be able to use some of the bigger fonts.

Which product were you trying to design?

[Waqar_Muhammad]

I was trying to design cake pop and 10 pt looks big as I was unable to add much information.

[Barbara]

Font size on cake pops has been limited, I believe, since their introduction. I remember it being discussed some years ago.

Colorwash's Home

[Waqar_Muhammad]

But I have seen some cake pops with smaller size.

[Barbara]

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@Waqar_Muhammad wrote:

But I have seen some cake pops with smaller size.

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It was likely a matter of perceived size, not actual size. Fonts a very individual in design, but if you consider a 10-point thin-line font next to the same size in black lettering, the former will look quite a bit smaller.

Colorwash's Home

[Waqar_Muhammad]

Check in this screen shot it's 5 pt

[Fiorenzo]

Most certainly copy-and-pasted from a different product. In these cases, the tool resizes the pasted content to fit the new product without applying the limitations. This is a way how you can circumvent them. Good luck trying to read the printed text on the 1.25" pop. You won't decipher it even with a magnifying glass since the print itself will be a mess. Check it out by yourself. Make a screenshot, open your image editing software, and zoom out until the design area's width is 1.25" on your screen.

[Barbara]

Fiorenzo is right. On my screen, the diameter of the design is over 2 inches, and at that size, the print is difficult to discern. Reducing the screen size helped very little. Add script to the mix, and the whole point of writing words (communication) is pretty much gone. I wouldn't be surprised if orders have been cancelled because people couldn't read the words once they received the product.

Rather than trying to squeeze as much as you can into a small space, might it not be better to have fewer but larger words?

Colorwash's Home

[Fiorenzo]

This is 1.25". Good luck.

[Marcia]

You can't do smaller than 10pt on real foil cards as well, from what I remember.

[Fiorenzo]

Didn't know about min. limits on some products but it makes sense. 10pt is on the smaller scale for regular text on paper, on business cards you usually go down to 9, and for (readable) fine prints you go down to 8, maybe 7. 6 is already absolute minimum on paper. Tested a 10pt serif (Caslon) on a cake pop, looked at it at real size (measured on screen), and I doubt even 10pt are readable on the material printed. I have seen small ornaments and necklaces with whole Bible verses and quotes on them here on Z. I guarantee, you can't read them, and there are plenty of customer reviews complaining about unreadable texts. I would go the better safe than sorry path and be careful when designing small products.

[Scott · Accepted solution]

Yep, we do set a minimum font size on each product type to help with readability. This is determined as we review test prints in the lead up to a new product release.