Week 10 Page 7: Readability of Different Type Styles

Readability of Different Styles and Cases

Look at the four paragraphs of type above. They are examples of "readability pitfalls" that novice typographers often fall into. Would you like to read a whole page of type in any of these styles?

Bold, italic and caps should be used only for emphasis, e.g. for names or book titles. Capitals have no "word" shape to help us read so they tend to be less readable than upper/lowercase letters. Bold and italic have distorted letterforms so are less legible than their regular (normal) counterparts. Use script (shown in the bottom paragraph in the slide above) and other fancy fonts in small amounts and then only when absolutely appropriate. Do NOT use script for a headline or in capitals!!!

Readability Example #1:

How easy to read is the type in capitals at the bottom left on this page?

Readability Example #2:

Do you think it's easy to read the paragraphs of bold type on this page (look particularly at the green type!)? Why do you think they used bold rather than regular type? Do the capital letters help or hinder the readability?