Typefaces


					Typefaces Serif or sans serif? Infant characters Script and informal typefaces Serif of sans serif? Does it matter whether reading books for young children are set in serif or sans serif type? There is no research that says that either serif or sans serif typefaces are intrinsically more legible Teacher opinion, generally, favours sans serif typefaces because of the simplicity of the letter shapes But children encounter a wide range of letterforms in their day-to-day environment Publishers tend to listen to teachers because they influence the book-buying policy in schools Children are seldom asked what they think about the typefaces in the books they read In finding out whether children found serif or sans serif typefaces easy or difficult to read we took into account: Expert opinion: designers' and publishers' tacit knowledge Performance testing: use of miscue analysis to see how many and what kind of errors children make when they are reading Children's opinions: what do children think about typefaces, and what words do they use to describe them Our findings suggest that there is little significant difference in children's reading performance when Century (a seriffed typeface) is compared with Gill (a sans serif typeface). Walker, S. and Reynolds, L. 'Serifs, sans serifs and infant characters in children's reading books', Information Design Journal, vol I.II, no. 2/3 (2002/3) Infant characters Most children in our study were well aware that there were different forms of a and g, and some even made the point that single storey a's and g's are what we write and double-storey a's and g's are what we read. Some commented favourably about what they perceived as the 'normal' g used in Gill Schoolbook. Other thought that double-storey a's and g's were 'harder' than single-storey a's and g's, but this did not affect their reading performance. If infant characters are used it is important that there is clear differentiation between charactes such as o, a and g. This is the case in Gill Educational, for example, but not in Avant Garde Gothic or Helvetica. Script and informal typefaces A second set of tests compared Century and Gill with two informal-looking typefaces, Sassoon and Flora. The children noticed differences in features of individual letters, in the qualities of the setting as a whole, such as size and texture. We also asked children about their views on five additional typefaces presented in double-spread: Comic Sans French Script Fabula Lucida Handwriting Sand Discussions with children about these further confirmed that typefaces can have an important effect on how children perceive a text, and hence their motivation to read. Associations can be strong, and there seems to be some comfort for young children in reading things that look familiar or 'normal'. Many of the children we spoke with were able to talk about the differences between the typefaces.




		There is little difference in children's reading performance when Century (top) is compared with Gill (bottom).





		The same text, with (top) and without (bottom) infant characters.