type lecture notes

lecture 4: legibility and readability

what exactly is legibility?

the degree to which a short burst of text - a headline, catalog listing, or stop sign - is instantly recognizable. - xhieght, san serif, looser tracking etc will make things more legible.


readable typefaces have contrast, simplicity and proportion.

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the nature of letters:

to maintain recognition, letters retain structure with contrast.

the four letter groups:

il EFHILT

acegos COQS

bdfhjmnpqrtu DGJPRU

kvwxyz AKMNVWXYZ

obvious similarities within groups.

upper and lower halves are typically more legible than the lower halves. people tend to read the top half of the letters.

readers read best what they read most. (zuzana licko) the read better what they are most familiar with.

caps versus lower case - typeset in all caps affects readability and legibility more than any other factor. lower case letters have more distinct character because of their ascenders and descenders.

interletter and interword spacing. not too much, and not too little.

point sizes vary per typeface. 18pt baskerville is smaller than 18pt universe.

leading: ascenders and descenders should carry the eye easily from one line to the next.

need good contrast. not too thick, not too thin.

be careful with color and background. don't want too much vibration, or not enough contrast. also, similar qualities of color take away readability (the same saturation, the same color tone, etc)

typographic color: the overall color value of the text. letter, point size, stroke weight etc effect this.

paragraphs signal a change in thought. there are different ways to denote that.

jaggies - stair step pixelyness

anti-aliasing - smoothes edges of screen based type.

hinting - altering pixel mapping (or bitmap) to increase legibilty at various sizes on screen.