Reviewing the understanding of the effects of spacing on children’s eye movements for on-screen reading

This paper endeavors to consolidate current knowledge and empirical research concerning the use of typography for children’s on-screen reading. This paper is not intended as a full literature review but attempts to raise awareness of the areas required for future investigation. This evaluation indicates a significant gap in the literature of children’s on-screen reading and proposes a need for further investigations in typographical spacing. These future studies need to objectively consider children’s eye movements and the effect of screen based text presentation on children’s comprehension

Text spacing considerations for children’s on-screen reading

This investigation seeks to uncover the insights of three integral and inter-related participants in the creation and use of on-screen reading material for children’s learning. This is an effort to discover what factors are perceived to influence children’s comprehension. Through a design-analyse-refine methodology this researcher discusses a series of typographical considerations relating to space which bear further empirical investigation in the literature. This methodology involved discussion of ideas garnered from four experts. The results of each iteration of the experiment influenced further refinement of the ideas until suitable conclusions were able to be developed by the writer. Testing materials in this experiment adjusted variables for visual separation, including margins, separation of image and type, as well as line spacing, letter spacing and word spacing

The Economy Of Typography (the Arrangement or Mode of Operation of Typography)

The thesis will show that the current research into legibility and readability regarding certain aspects or characters of type is incomplete, and will demonstrate what further research is necessary to complete the analysis of these aspects or characters in the economy of typography in continuous text. Chapter 1 will show that the development of reading depends on the legibility of the typography and characters ‘recognizing patterns, planning strategy, and feeling’ in other words reading and writing are interdependent all depend in some part on the construction of the characters and their relationship to each other. It will also show that readable writing is desirable and important for the reader’s sake. Chapter 2 will deal with the practical presentation of the characters of what the reading public read, and the role played by legibility and readability of typography in conveying their message. Printers and designers will also have a working knowledge and experience of legibility and readability which is incorporated into typograhy presentations, and this also is taken into account in chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews the criteria and methods used in typography readability and legibility research. The research will show that readability is the ease with which the eye can absorb the message and move along the line, and legibility is based on the ease with which one letter can be identified from another. Chapter 4 entitled Analysis and Recommendations concludes the thesis with a summary of chapters 1, 2 and 3 before presenting a comparative analysis of current research into legibility, with particular emphasis on misreading or misrecognition of characters, and provides illustrations of the conclusions reached by way of bar chart and tables. Appendix One of the thesis contains a comprehensive list of the research into legibility and readability. Appendix Two contains the graphics of Benjamin Sherbow showing typography layout supportive of type spacing matters discussed in chapter 2. The thesis has an extensive bibliography of the works referred to throughout the thesis

Designing digital texts for beginner readers: performance, practice and process

This illustrated chapter describes the role of research in typography and graphic communication and in information design, that is relevant to the design and use of materials for children’s reading. By ‘design’ in this context we mean ‘typography’ (which is the visual organisation of type and pictures on paper or screen), and ‘process’ (the ways in which design is developed in order to make sure that what is designed works for its intended reader group). We summarise issues that designers consider when they are producing reading materials for beginning and emerging readers, including the constraints imposed by technology. We suggest ways of engaging with users of e-books so that their needs can be considered. We conclude by summarising the typographic parameters that are likely to benefit children’s reading

Typeface Legibility: Towards defining familiarity

The aim of the project is to investigate the influence of fa- miliarity on reading. Three new fonts were created in order to examine the familiarity of fonts that readers could not have seen before. Each of the new fonts contains lowercase letters with fa- miliar and unfamiliar skeleton variations. The different skeleton variations were tested with distance threshold and time thresh- old methods in order to account for differences in visibility. This investigation helped create final typeface designs where the fa- miliar and unfamiliar skeleton variations have roughly similar and good performance. The typefaces were later applied as the test material in the familiarity investigation. Some typographers have proposed that familiarity means the amount of time that a reader has been exposed to a typeface design, while other typographers have proposed that familiarity is the commonalities in letterforms. These two hypotheses were tested by measuring the reading speed and preference of partici- pants, as they read fonts that had either common or uncommon letterforms, the fonts were then re-measured after an exposure period. The results indicate that exposure has an immediate ef- fect on the speed of reading, but that unfamiliar letter features only have an effect of preference and not on reading speed. By combining the craftsmen’s knowledge of designing with the methods of experimental research, the project takes a new step forward towards a better understanding of how different type- faces can influence the reading process

Typographic Legibility for Retinitis Pigmentosa Readers

Although numerous papers have been written on the subject of legibility, there appears to be a lack of research into the relationship between printed matter and visual impairment in this context. The research aim of this thesis is to conduct a comprehensive study on the reading performance of those suffering from a particular impairment, namely Retinitis Pigmentosa and to identify typographic considerations that would improve this performance. The work confirms the importance of specially designed material and the need for specific guidelines to ensure optimum legibility for particular eye deficiencies

A driving simulator study to explore the effects of text size on the visual demand of in-vehicle displays

Modern vehicles increasingly utilise a large display within the centre console, often with touchscreen capability, to enable access to a wide range of driving and non-driving-related functionality. The text provided on such displays can vary considerably in size, yet little is known about the effects of different text dimensions on how drivers visually sample the interface while driving and the potential implications for driving performance and user acceptance. A study is described in which sixteen people drove motorway routes in a medium-fidelity simulator and were asked to read text of varying sizes (9 mm, 8 mm, 6.5 mm, 5 mm, or 4 mm) from a central in-vehicle display. Pseudo-text was used as a stimulus to ensure that participants scanned the text in a consistent fashion that was unaffected by comprehension. There was no evidence of an effect of text size on the total time spent glancing at the display, but significant differences arose regarding how glances were distributed. Specifically, larger text sizes were associated with a high number of relatively short glances, whereas smaller text led to a smaller number of long glances. No differences were found in driving performance measures (speed, lateral lane position). Drivers overwhelmingly preferred the ‘compromise’ text sizes (6.5 mm and 8 mm). Results are discussed in relation to the development of large touchscreens within vehicles

Effects of Colour Combination on Short-Words Processing Speed

In television broadcasts, important information is often conveyed with short inscriptions. In such elements, the typeface, letter case, positioning, timing and colour combinations may affect the speed of information processing to the level of recognition. It is therefore necessary to choose an appropriate combination of these properties. In the present study, we were especially interested in the effects of applied colours in connection with the above-mentioned factors. The speed of recognising three-letter words was measured in different experimental conditions where the typeface of the inscription, its position and colour combination varied. Two typefaces (i.e. Calibri and Georgia), two letter cases (i.e. upper-case and lower-case), two positions (i.e. upper left and right) and four colour combinations (i.e. white on blue, blue on white, white on red and red on white) were tested. The results showed that colour combinations affected the speed of word processing to the level of recognition

The Legibility of Serif and Sans Serif Typefaces

This open access book provides a detailed and up-to-date account of the relevant literature on the legibility of different kinds of typefaces, which goes back over 140 years in the case of reading from paper and more than 50 years in the case of reading from screens. It describes the origins of serif and sans serif styles in ancient inscriptions, their adoption in modern printing techniques, and their legibility in different situations and in different populations of readers. It also examines recent research on the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces when used with internet browsers, smartphones and other hand-held devices. The book investigates the difference in the legibility of serif typefaces and sans serif typefaces when they are used to produce printed material or when they are used to present material on computer monitors or other screens and it explores the differences in readers’ preferences among typefaces. The book’s main focus is on the psychology of reading, but there are clear implications for education and publishing. Indeed, the book can be read with benefit by anyone concerned with communicating with others through written text, whether it is printed on paper or displayed on computer screens