Typography should be readable

Companies are always scrambling to improve performance and optimize products. There is immense competition to make content as consumable as possible to further the ease (addiction) of the services.

What makes a good typeface?

Fundamentally the two key aspects of a typeface are legibility and readability.

Legibility is the ability to distinguish on letter from another. Readability is how easy the process of scanning the text and understanding it is.

How are readable fonts decided

In the 1940's, the most popular test for legibility was the Blink Test. The idea is that as blinking is used to relieve the stress on our eyes; the fewer times you blink while reading the better the typeface. This was tested under lab conditions, with light and font size regulated, and the test subject is presented with the same text in many different faces - the number of blinks was then monitored using a handheld clicker.

According to these results, the type that fared best were the ones that have survived for centuries, always being revived and only being slightly modified (Bembo, Bodoni, Garamond).

In the 1970's more research was done at The Royal College of Art's Readability and Print Research Unit. From this research it was found that type with strong distinctive strokes was easier to read than flattened styles; and a greater between letters allowed faster digestion of information. The research confirmed that the key areas that make a letter distinctive are the top half and right side. The eyes use these points to try and quickly ascertain what letter will be there.

Other research has found people prefer bold typefaces, although legibility remains fairly constant. Serif and sans serif faces are also equally legible, so long as they aren't too heavy and thick. There are a lot of differences that serif and sans serif can make for branding but that is a discussion for another day.

If you want to find more Just my Type by Simon Garfield has some good insight into font readability is a great place to start.

What this means

If you look at the results above, the idea that type that has been around longest is kind of amazing. With every modern convenience, we still cant beat type that was created when printing first began. This may seem like the case but the reality is far more interesting.

If you have ever played a mobile game like logo quiz you will be familiar with the idea of pattern recognition. This concept is used a lot in graphic design to hide meaning in negative space. By reusing these typefaces again and again we are making it easier and easier for our brains to recognise letters and reducing the strain they cause to read.

As mentioned in my other post, Junking for graphic design inspiration, the use of old material is inspiration for a lot of modern type too.

The radical Californian type designer Zuzana Licko has a popular theory that 'you read best what you read most'. 'You need to use something that is not necessarily intrinsically more legible, but that people are used to seeing.'When you look at some of the most legible typefaces that we have currently, it's easy to see how this could be true. The search engine Google uses Arial as it's primary font for search results. Sure enough, Arial can be found in the article What makes a good, accessible, easy to read font? along with Microsofts in house typeface; Calibri. These principles also work for things like page layouts.

Design as a small fish

As a small fish company this does mean that creating something new is much harder. Due to these recognition principles, unless you have some great unique selling point you may find people unwilling to learn an unfamiliar system.

On the other hand, mimicking larger competitors who have already 'optimized' their websites typography and layouts gives you an excellent opportunity to create your own service with minimal onboarding; users will already be familiar with it.

While you can use these sites and type for inspiration, make sure you still give it your own unique style, messages and branding or people won't bother using your site at all!