legibility in typography

7/30/2019 Legibility in Typography

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Legibility is based on the ease with whichone letter can be told from the other.

Readability is the ease with which the eyecan absorb the message and move along theline.J. Ben Lieberman Types of Typefaces


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a measure of how easy it is to distinguish

one letter from another in a given typeface.

Legibility describes the design of a typeface.

How legible a typeface is designed to bedepends on its purpose.

Legible typefaces usually have larger closedor open inner spaces (counters).

They generally have a larger x-height,though not too large.
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how easy words, phrases, and blocks of text

can be read.

Readability describes how a typeface is usedon the page.

Good typography (more readable)encourages a desire to read the copy andreduces the effort required to read and

comprehend the type.The reader shouldnt even notice the type.

She should simply understand the words.


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Individual shapes of letterforms havedeveloped to improve communicationprocess

Yet, the basic structure of each letterformmust remain the same

A


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Letters can be clustered into four groups Letterforms with strokes that are vertical,

il Letterforms with strokes that are curved,

acegos Letterforms with strokes that are a combination ofvertical and curved,

bdfhjmnpqrtu Letterforms with strokes that are oblique

kvwxyz


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The upper halves ofletters provide morevisual cues for letterrecognition than the

lower halves


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KOMUNIKASI

PUBLISHING


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KOMUNIKASI

PUBLISHING


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Right halves ofletters are more

recognizable thanthe left halves


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birth

clever


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birth

clever


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(letter) has no particular significanceuntil it is employed to form part of a

word.

Two important factors in reading process:

1. word shape

2. internal pattern


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TEXT SET IN CAPITALLETTERS SUFFERS ALOSS OF LEGIBILITY,SEVERELY RETARD

READING AND USES ASIGNIFICANTLYGREATER AMOUNT OFSPACE. AS MUCH 35PERCENT MORE SPACE

CAN BE CONSUMEDWHEN USING ALLCAPITAL LETTERS.

Text set in capitalletters suffers a loss oflegibility, severelyretard reading and

uses a significantlygreater amount ofspace. As much 35percent more spacecan be consumed when

using all capital letters.


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Letterform spacing has a significant impacton legibility

Needs proper spatial relationships fromletters into words, words into lines

The spacing of letters, words and linescontribute to typographic texture

When texture and spatial relationships

between typographic elements are consistent,it create an easily readable text.


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Too much or too little space between letters

and words destroys the normal textureintended by the typeface designer.

As you read this sentence, notice that thenarrow letter and wordspacing causeswords to merge together visually.

Likewise, the extremely

wide letterspacing of thissentence is also disruptivefor the reader.


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The combination of these three variables iscrucial to spatial harmony and legibility

No generalization for which sizes of type

should be used, how long lines should be orhow much space should be inserted betweenlines decision based on comparative

judgments.

Type size: too small or too large reduceslegibility. Most legible (normal readingdistance: ).


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Line length: an appropriate one must be able

to achieve a pleasant reading rhythm, allowreader to relax and concentrate on thecontent of the words.

Interline spacing (leading): proper one will

carry the eye naturally from one line to thenext; one to four points can be effectivelyadded between lines to increase legibility 9/10, 10/12, 11/14, and 12/16.


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Thickness of the strokes of typefaces Too light or too heavy strokes can diminish

legibility too light typeface cannot be easilydistinguished from background while tooheavy has a tendency to lose its internalpattern of counterforms.

.


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Extreme thick and thin strokes

within letters of a particulartypeface make reading more

difficult, preventing smooth

transitions from one word orgroup of words to the next. Thin

strokes are less visible, creating

confusion with letters of similarshapes. Legibility than decreases

significantly.


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The width of letters is alsoan important legibility

factor

Condensed typeface might beselected for a narrow page or

column.

It is, however, more difficult to readusing condensed typeface. A

narrower letter changes the

form/counterform causing letters to


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An extreme italic slant can slow the

reading process and is disliked by

many readers. Italics can impedereading. However, italic type can be

very effective when used as a means

of providing emphasis.


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Incorporating colour into type cansignificantly affect legibility

Achieve appropriate contrast between typeand its background

Consider 3 basic colour properties:1. Hue colour tone

2. Value the lightness or darkness of a colour

3. Saturation relative brightness of a colour.


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Poor combinations

that can produce minimalvisibility and legibility


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Justified typography more family andconsidered to be more refined

Unjustified typography (flush left andragged right) promotes greater

legibility where it guides the eyesmoothly down the page from line toline.

Whereas in justified,

all lines are of equallength. Lacking arevisual cues thatpromote easy reading.


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Common practice in book, magazine andnewspaper designs: to indent each paragraph clear separation of paragraphs in a body oftext to clarify content and increase reader

comprehension. Typographic practice: not to indent the first

paragraph in an article, chapter.

Moderate indention: one to three ems.


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Serif

VS

Sans Serif


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Serifs are used to increase spacing

between letters

Spacing is even easier to manipulate with

modern computerised typesetting

equipment (Sassoon, 1993; Rubinstein,

1988 ).


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Serifs are used to increase contrast

between different letters to improveidentification

Well established research has shown that

whole words can be recognised just as

quickly as letters during an eye fixation

and that single letters can be identified

quicker when embedded in a word

(Reynolds, 1979).


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Serifs are used to bind characters into

cohesive 'word wholes' The simple Gestalt created by spaces

between words would be enough to bind

letters into 'wholes'. Furthermore, other features such as

character ascenders and descenders should

have a much greater effect on wordrecognition than serifs ( Poulton, 1965 ).


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Readers prefer body text set in

serif typefaces, so they must bemore legible

Many studies conducted in the past

did indeed find a preference for

serif typefaces ( Tinker, 1963 ;

Zachrisson, 1965 ).


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Serifs are used for body text

because sans serif causes fatigueIt is often claimed that reading

large amounts of body text set in

sans serif causes fatigue (Reynolds

1979).


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Serifs are just an historicalartifact

Serifs have been around for so longthat perceived legibility is verylikely to have been affected by

familiarity - readers tend to rate asmore legible the typefaces they aremost used to (Tinker, 1963 ;

Zachrisson, 1965 ).


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Sans serif is better at small sizes. Sans

serif fonts survive reproduction andsmearing because of their simple

forms.

Other factors such as stroke thickness,counter size and x-height are likely to

have a far greater effect in preserving

the overall identity of a letter formwhether it be through smearing or size

reduction (Poulton, 1972 ; Reynolds,

1979).


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Sans serif is better for children

learning to readBooks produced for children are

often printed with sans serif text as

teachers claim that the simplicity of

the letter shapes makes them more

recognisable (Coghill, 1980) ,Walker, 2001).


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legibility in typography

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