If the two letters or words were not identical, the user is instructed to select “different.” Ten users completed 100 trials each. Users are then presented with two options: same, or different. Users are shown a “priming” mark in the center of the screen (to draw their focus and define the foveal region of sharp focus), then briefly presented with either two letters or two words (randomly placed along a circle just outside the focus range based on the priming mark). I know), at five different exposure times.
#COMPARISON HELVETICA TO HELVETICA NOW TRIAL#
I coded a trial based experiment that randomly compares 5 fonts against a baseline (Helvetica. … I could go on, but you get the point So here is what I did.not controlling for computer and/or reading competency, or any environmental factors.assuming that the learning time will be unaffected by the 100 trials users perform.making the tacit assumption that users in the study are more familiar with helvetica.Before I push us into the weeds, it’s worth noting that this (air quotes) ‘experiment’ has many problems. If the learning time for fonts is thought to be negligible perhaps this “can you see a difference” test would prove much harder in parafoveal vision, and show nonnegligible effects of one font face over another. The study showed how visual pattern learning in the foveal region (your area of sharp visual focus) is much better/faster than learning visual patterns just outside of the sharp focus region (i.e. I read a 2005 article about discriminating letters in parafoveal vision ( Chung et. Number two requires a bit of explanation… To discern less of a difference between fonts. As the exposure time decreases you expect people Made sure that when presented, the letter or words appeared in the viewers parafoveal region. I varied the exposure time (duration the letters or words were shown on screen), andĢ. I decided to make a simple experiment based on the following question: can a user tell the difference between letters and words if the only difference is the font face? I added two twists:ġ. The reason is simple: the script font capitals include stylistic distractors from the canonical letterform, are hard to identify, and destroy the familiar shape of the word. One is much harder to read than the other. Consider the two example type treatments below. Besides, there are obvious cases where font face makes a difference in legibility. That’s a strange assumption for a couple reasons: a.) some letter forms are easier to identify than others, b.) some letters are more common than others, c.) some typeface letterforms deviate further from a canonical form than others. For instance, learning any new letter form is assumed to be the same effort and process as learning some other new letter form. I did,however, find some common assumptions about perception of font faces that don’t quite add up. I feel like something is missing from that assessment.Ī few weeks back i started reading research papers and crafting exploratory experiments aiming to “score” font faces based on how legible they are. Happens so quick, the learning time is negligible. The central argument for the insignificant role of font face is this: People read best with the font faces they are used to and getting used to a font face but not extremely wacky fonts that are obviously less legible) ( Tinker, 1963, Chandler, 2001, Gasser et al., 2005, Pyke, 1926, Rothlein, 1912). sans, and a host of basic font face comparisons, Palatino vs. Of the key typographic factors (face, kerning, line length, letting, size, contrast), research shows font face has the smallest impact on legibility (big caveat here: studies have looked at differences like serif vs. And, In terms of legibility in particular, here’s an interesting question … How different is one font-face from another? And if you’re like me, you rationalize the choice of one font over another in terms of legibility, overall impression, personality, color, etc. If you are reading this, you probably call on your inner font-snob from time to time. I agonize over font choices when others claim they can’t even really tell the difference.
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