Readability vs Legibility

Although readability and legibility seem like they would be very similar, there are actually distinct differences between the two. Readability refers to how easy it is to read something, which goes back to how well the text itself is written, designed, and presented. Readability sees the body of text as a whole. On the other hand, legibility goes to a deeper level, looking at the relationships between characters, how they form words, and how those words form sentences. Legibility asks if we understand the parts of the text, readability refers to the text as a whole. Both go hand in hand. However, something does not have to be legibile to be readable: readability also refers to the text's impression on the viewer.

Readability is affected by a variety of factors:

- Color: The easiest colors to read are those set in good contrast, hence why the traditional method is black text on white background. When using colors, avoid colors that are close to each other on the color wheel. In addition, consider the fact that some people are colorblind when choosing colors


- Word Spacing and Leading: Consistent words spacing and leading is important for readability. Too much word spacing creates gaps between words and can sometimes lead to rivers (spaces between words becoming a form themselves) breaking the flow of reading.

In addition, when word spacing exceeds leading, the eye tends to be drawn down the page, rather than across.

When considering leading, the application is important (long reading should have larger leading, short bits of reading [like when looking something up in a dictionary] can have smaller leading). Too little leading give the text block a darker color and can make it hard to distinguish where to go when moving from one line to the next. Too much leading and the eye can jump around. In addition, certain characteristics of fonts themselves require more leading, such as larger x-heights, strong stroke contrast, or bold time.

- Typeface: Many factors of type can alter it's readability. Generally larger x-heights make reading easier. Fonts with an easily distinguishable upper and lower case also help, as it gives variation to the look of the font on the line and prevents it from looking to static or becoming one big line. In addition, the factors of type that make it legible also make it readable.


- Line Length: When line length is too long or short it slows down reading. Line length definitely depends on typeface but in general, it can be around 39 characters long ('alphabet and a half rule'). Other techniques include the 'points times two' rule where you take the point size, double it, and use that size in picas for your line length. Using both is a great way to get a range for experimenting with which looks best, and then adjusting columns, margins, fonts, etc. accordingly.


- Justification: Generally, a flush left, right rag is the easiest to read (as long as the rag on the right is kept in check). FRLF tends to be harder to read due to the inconsistent line starting points. In addition, Justification, when used incorrectly (with too many hyphenations, widows, orphens, and awkward gaps in spacing) can also impede reading

- Paragraph density: See word spacing and leading

- Grammar used: no matter how nicely something is designed, if it has bad grammar, it still won't be as readable as a well written piece.


Legibility is affected mainly by the typeface design itself, including:

- letterspacing: letterspacing that is too close makes it hard to distinguish one letter from another, yet too much makes it hard to associate the letters as words. In addition, certain letters consecutively need to be kerned closer together. Letterspacing should create a flow and harmony throughout the page

- x-height: larger x-heights tend to give more legibility, even when the type is shrunken down to smaller sizes. However, in excess, readibility is lowered due to the similarities of certain leters, such as h and n

- serif vs. sans serif- A broad generalization is that serif fonts apply well to printed materials and sans serif fonts apply well online. however, the right font merely depends on the situation.


- word contour/stroke contrast: Again, the varying word contours from using lower case tends to be more readable than ALL CAPS DUE TO IT'S RELATIVE LACK OF CONTOUR. The greater the stroke contrast, the harder it becomes to read the font, especially over long periods of time, due to the limited visibility of the thinner strokes trying to compete with the power and form of the thicker strokes


- font height: Certain type faces are meant for larger display, and some are more suited for smaller applications. In general, no smaller than 8pt is a good rule of thumb. Even then, something around 14pt is better due to the number of visually impaired out there.

- font weight: The bolder and thicker the font, the harder it is to read for extended periods of time, due to the solidarity of the forms all becoming a big black mass. In addition, condensed fonts can be hard to read, especially in small sizes and tend to appear very light.

Overall, though, each typeface is different, and the adjustments you make to create greater legibility or readability fall back on the design of the font itself (wide, condensed, large x-height, etc), as well as the environment where it will be used (online, on a billboard, on a business card, etc). The key is finding balance.

Thoughtful quiz question:
Does a font have to be legible in order for it to be readable?

Sources:
Ambrose, Gavin and Harris, Paul. Fundamentals of Typography. 2006
http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/servicefirst/2001/joinedup/accessible/typeface.htm
http://www.daube.ch/docu/glossary/readability.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_(typography)
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/finetypography/ht/line_length.htm
http://www.daube.ch/docu/glossary/legibility.html
http://www.problogdesign.com/blog-usability/30-ways-to-improve-readability/
http://www.connorwilson.com/2007/03/12/considering_readability_when_designing/

Thoughts on Design

Ever since Design II, I've started to think about design itself a LOT more. Now, in a semester with 3 design classes, it's pretty hard for me not to notice and questions things around campus, especially posters. It used to be that I'd just walk around and notice if words were spelled wrong on posters....now, I question the design itself: 'well that looks cool, but is it necessary?' 'why did they choose this picture or this font?' 'does the color relate?' etc...In addition, thanks to all of the work we've done in Typography, I ask myself questions like 'what do I read first?' 'what stands out on the page, and is it the main subject?' 'why did they use so many fonts?' 'does it need color?' 'does this create a coding?' etc. Thanks for VisCon, I see birds everywhere, and I consider things like simplicity of the symbols on restrooms, bus stop signs, traffic signs, car insignias....I can really admire symbols and corporate logos now after working on VisCon's second project. 'Clear, Memorable, Innovate' has become my mantra lately, and I'll question symbols I walk by and see if they apply.

Design classes really make you notice how many things you take for granted, and how big and designed our world really is. It's kind of mind blowing.

Time Warner

Today, I went to the Art and Architecture library to get books on symbols and logos (to help with my VisCon project).

One of the books had corporate logos and the processes, ideas, etc, that the designers went through to create the symbol. Flipping through this book I came across the page for Time Warner. Time Warner was actually two companies that merged: Time Inc., a publication company, and Warner Communications, an entertainment company. The designer decided to create logo that would encompass the ideas of both journalism and entertainment: looking and listening, reading and hearing, sending and recieing, etc....An eye and an ear were chosen to be used as symbols to represent both aspects, and in the final logo, they are combined to become the logo we know today:
.

I just thought this was a very interesting revelation, because I had never really given too much thought to the logo before. Now I can see the ear and the eye and the logo becomes more powerful that way (kind of like with the arrow in Fed Ex)

Source:
Thomas, Gregory. How to design Logos, Symbols and Icons. 2000

Videogames and design

One of my hobbies (when I'm not busy with homework...) is playing videogames. As such, I also like to keep up with videogame news through joystiq.com.

Below, I've posted some links from there that relate videogames and art:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/17/agdc-reset-play-more-gaming-inspired-artwork/
^ The Reset/Play exhibit in the Arthouse in Texas

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/16/travelling-without-moving-wants-your-videogame-photos/
^An interesting idea for for more meaningful uses of screenshots

In addition, the trailer for the game Mercenaries 2 has not only a catchy song, but also a 'making of' video that shows the steps the company had to take to make the trailer. I didn't really think about it too much, but trailers themselves have to be designed pretty deeply too...it's not just splicing together a bunch of game footage:

Mercenaries 2 Trailer
Making of Mercenaries 2 Trailer

When you think about it, videogames have to be HIGHLY designed. The player must know where to go, what to do, and how to do it, most of the time without being explicitly told 'do this' or 'go here first.' It's something that should come naturally, and most unsuccessful games come from the player having to 'fight' the game, thanks to unclear graphics, confusing level design, glitches, bad button mechanics, or puzzle designs that are too hard to figure out or too hard to accomplish.

And finally:
Here's a small interesting website design...the company logo is also quite intricate, but fits nicely with the company name: Armature

"Why the name, Armature?

It really defines how we work as a company. It's defined as "a skeletal framework built as a support on which a clay, wax, or plaster figure is constructed" and we want to structure our development that way. The first stage of the development is the substructure, and then we direct a larger team of people to help us in filling out the full game."

~Interview with Armature by Joystiq

Who knew type was SO complex?

Absolute Measurement
- Measurements with fixed values. They are expressed in finite terms and can't be altered. Points and picas are absolute measurements
















Points/Picas
-The basic measurements of type. Points are used to measure font size. Originially, a font's size was determined by the height of its type block (back in the movable type days). Now, it's the measurement of its height from the highest ascender to the lowest descender. 1point (pt) = .35mm or 1/72in. 12pt = 1 pica. Pica is commonly used for measuring lines of type.

Relative Measurement
- Measurements that depend on other variables and thus have no fixed value. Measurements such as leading, character spacing, ems and ens are all relative measurements

x-height
- the height of the lowercase letters of a font, minus any ascenders or descenders (measured as the length from the baseline to the top of a lowercase x) . The larger the x-height, the larger a font appears to be. in addition, characters with rounded tops (ex. b, d, o, etc) actually extend a little bit over the x-height in order to perceptually seem the same size.

The em. The en
- The em is used to define basic spacing functions. It's equal to the size of the type, so if the type is 36pt, then the em is 36pt. Even though it sounds like it should be realated to the letter m, it the m will rarely be as wide as the em.
- The en is half of the em. So if the type is 36pt, then the en is 18 pt. The en rule is used for nested clauses as well as 'to' phrases, such as in 10 to 11 or 1999 to 2000.





Dashes
- Ems and ens are used in punctuation to dente dash length, and each has a specific function.
- The em is the size of the font itself and is used to separate out parenthetical thoughts as well as to show when there is an interuption
- An en, as stated earlier is 1/2 of an em and is used for nested clauses, as well as the 'to' phrases. In addition, it can be used like the em dash to separate out paranthetical thoughts when an em dash would be at the end of a line or would look odd. The en is also used to combine two hyphenated terms, and also to combine two terms that don't modify each other (for example, with names as is common in science: Boss--Einstein Condensate
- A hyphen is 1/3 of an em, and is used to join words and separate syllables.
- As a note, the bullets I am using in this blog entry are hyphens; in addition, em and en dashes are not part of a standard keyboard and instead fall under special characters.

Alignments: Justification, Flush Left, Flush Right
- Alignment is the relationship of text to the ends of a column
- Justification has even edges and makes a nice shape on the page. It's the most efficient use of space, however, it can lead to awkward gaps when line length is too short when compared to type size. Hyphenation is often used to help make it look more even.
- Flush Left makes the left edge hard, but the right edge soft. Although pretty much the norm today it was rarely used until the 20th century. It follows the flow of language, rather than the idea of a fixed shape. However, one must be careful to make sure the right edge doesn't look too ragged/uneven, nor that it looks too even (thereby looking just like justified alignment). Also, hyphenation should be kept to an absolute minimum.

-Flush Right is the opposite of Flush Left, making the left edge hard and the right edge soft. It is harder to read due to the different starting points of each line, and so should not be used for large bodies of text. However, in smaller blocks is makes effective marginal notes, sidebars, pull quotes or other passages that comment on a main body or image. In addition, a flush or ragged edge can suggest attraction or repulsion between chunks of information.


Letterspacing
- Adusting the space between letters. Generally, however, letterspacing refers to adding spacing and is associated with tracking.

Kerning
-Adjusting the space between letters. Kerning give the letters a more cohesive feel, rather than having a fixed amount of space around each letter. Generally, this is done automatically on the computer, using special kerning tables based on letter pairs. However, when type is changed dramatically, sometimes manual kerning must occur to keep letters from looking awkwardly spaced. Generally, kerning refers to reducing space between type

Tracking
- Adjusting the amount of spacing between characters. Too much positive or negative tracking, however, can make make words hard to read either by making the letter too spaced or our too close together. Negative tracking is rarely desireable. Positive tracking is used most often with capitals and small capitals to give a more regal feel. Generally, tracking refers to increasing the space between type.


Word Spacing
-A relative measurement used to define the spaces between words. It is a percentage value of an em, so it depends on the size of the type. This percentage varies between different typefaces.











Widow
- A lone word at the end of a paragraph. This is NOT desireable and the type should be somehow adjusted to avoid this











Orphan
- The final one or two lines of a paragraph separated from the main paragraph to form a new column and should be avoided at all costs








Leading
- The space between lines of text in a text block. It derives it's name from the strips of lead that were inserted between text measures in order to space them accurately. Leading usually has a larger point size than the text to make the text blook more balanced and well spaced. Since letters in different font faces occupy different amounts of the em square, the same amount of leading and same size can give quite a different effect.






Indent, First Line Indent, Hanging Indent
- Indent is moving some or all of the text lines in from the margins by a specified amount. It gives an easy entry point into a paragraphy, and it related to the size of the type. Additionally it can be determined by the grid.
- First Line Indent is where the text is indeted from the left margin in the first line of the second and subsequent paragraphs. Generally, the first paragraph following a heading, subhead, or crosshead isn't indented because it introduces an awkward space, although it can be done
- Hanging indent is an indention from a left or right margin which affects several textlines (like a running indent), however the first line is not indented.

Frutiger and Univers...who needs the e anyway

Adrian Frutiger is (arguably) one of the most influential typographers of the 20th century. Born on May 24 1928, the life and work of this Swiss graphic designer has spanned the ages of drastically different type processes: hotmetal, phototypesetting, and digital typesetting. He has written many books, won numerous awards, taught in Paris, and a few of his fonts have become famous and are used world wide. In addition to being a typographer, he is also a painter, sculptor, symbolist and mathematician.

Frutiger grew up in Unterseen, near Interlaken, Switzerland. As a boy, he rebelled against the strict handwriting system taught at his school and instead experimented, at one point cutting the pen down to a broad nib to imitate the handwriting of one of his idols.

At the age of 16, he was apprenticed as a compositor (typesetter) at a printing studio for four years, and then attended the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule), focusing on calligraphy.

After his schooling, he went to Paris to work for Deberny & Peignot, revamping old types to work on newer machines. In addition, he worked on new fonts, such as "Président", "Phoebus", and "Ondine". It was in 1957, however, that he gained international recognition with the creation of his font Univers.

From then on, Frutiger has opened his own studio, taught at two French schools, worked for IBM as a consultant, created the typeface for the Charles de Gaulle airport, and created over 30 fonts.

Frutiger is still alive today and lives near Bern, Switzerland

Sources:
http://www.linotype.com/793-12658/handwriting.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typesetting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Frutiger#cite_note-1
http://www.typophile.com/node/12118
http://www.identifont.com/show?110
http://www.monotypeimaging.com/ProductsServices/TypeDesignerShowcase/AdrianFrutiger/
http://artfilm.ch/adrianfrutiger.php?lang=e&id=adrianfrutiger&suche=dvds


UNIVERS

Univers is a sans serif font created by Mr. Frutiger released in 1957 containing 44 different styles. It was the first font to use his special numbered classification for the different styles of the font face. Univers was also unique in that the entire family of font styles was all created at once as a complete unit, rather than later being expanded upon.

In this univers grid, even numbers are italic (or oblique) ad odd numbers are roman. The first number stands for the stoke weight, with 1 being lightest and 9 being heaviest. The second number represents the position and width. with 1 being the most extended to 9 being the most condensed. By this system, 55 is the the original, roman style of the typeface.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers

The status is NOT quo

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 40ish minute online 3 part video made by none other than Joss Wheedon (Buffy), and staring Felicia Day, Neil Patrick Harris (aka Doogie Houser), and Nathan Fillion. It's become somewhat of a cult classic, and includes quite a few funny and quoeable lines.

Ever since Design II, I've always been amazed by how movies work. The camera angles, the transitions between shots, it's all delicately planned so that it's not choppy. I mean, even just switching between faces when two people are talking to each other: how do we as a viewer understand this as a conversation, seeing only one person in the frame at a time, one talking facing one direction, and one the other. How should the camera follow a person? All of this is especially interesting to me because it applies to comics as well. Without showing the entire scene in every frame, you have to give the reader a sense of what is going on, as well as the environment itself.

In musicals like this, it's especially interesting to me to see how they transition into songs so that everything still all flows together.