The Relative Legibility of Different Faces of Printing Types

V. CONCLUSIONS I. Certain faces of type are much more legible than other faces, and certain letters of every face are much more legible than other letters of the same face. 2. These differences in legibility prove to be greater when letters are presented in isolation from one another than when they are presented in groups. 3. Legibility is a product of six factors: r. the form of the letter; 2. the size of the letter; 3. the heaviness of the face of the letter (the thickness of the lines which constitute the letter); 4. the width of the white margin which surrounds the letter; 5. the position of the letter in the letter-group; 6. the shape and size of the adjacent letters. In our experiments, the first factor seemed to be less significant than any of the other five, i.e., in the typefaces which were employed in the present investigation, the form of any given letter of the alphabet usually This content downloaded from 66.76.156.241 on Sat, 08 Sep 2018 20:05:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 34 ROETHLEIN varied between such narrow limits as to constitute a relatively insignificant factor in the determination of its legibility. 4. The relatively heavy-faced types prove to be more legible than the light-faced types. The optimal heaviness of face seems to lie in a mean between the bold faces and such light faces as Scotch Roman and Cushing Monotone. 5. The initial position in a group of letters is the most advantageous position for legibility; the final position comes next in order of advantage, and the intermediate or internal positions are least favourable for legibility. 6. The size and the form of the letters which stand adjacent to any given letter play an important role in determining its legibility, and the misreadings which occur in the case of grouped letters are of a wholly different sort from those which occur in the case of isolated letters. When letters of the same height or of similar form appear side by side, they become relatively illegible. But the juxtaposition of an ascender, a descender and a short letter tend to improve the legibility of each, as also does the juxtaposition of letters which are made up wholly or chiefly of straight lines and letters which are made up wholly or chiefly of curved lines. 7. The quality and the texture of the paper is a much less significant factor that has been supposed,-provided, of course, that the illumination and the inclination of the paper are such as to secure an optimal condition of light reflection from its surface. 8. There is an urgent need for modification of certain letters of the alphabet


What about Non-Roman alphabets? are there any studies?