For me personally, legibility is the most important aspect
of typography. Type is for reading and presenting information, and if that
information is not easily readable then it is failing its main purpose.
Chapter four is a great reference for understanding the ins
and outs of legibility and how it is achieved or possibly failed. The most
legible typefaces are simple, full of contrast, and proportionate. There are
several key aspects in achieving legibility such as the subtle adjustments of
letterforms and their spatial relationships.
I found it very interesting to see how different types of
legibility can also be achieved through characteristics such as weight and
color as well. In my own experience I’ve seen so many different ads, both in
print and on screen, and I find that there are definitely certain combinations
of colors that are far more easily readable than others. For example, when you
see a an extremely light color used for type like a cyan or something, and then
that text placed on a white background, is really hard to read. It’s strange
how our eyes perceive such things. Line length and interline spacing intervals
also seem quite important when trying to achieve legibility.
I really liked the part where they compared the theories of
calligrapher Edward Johnston and typographer Aaron Burns. Johnston believed
that a word space equal to a lowercase “o” is the optimal word space, whereas
Burns suggested a word spacing equal to a lowercase “r”. I prefer Burn’s method
because I think it’s a bit faster to read.
As a whole this chapter gave me great insight in the methods
that typographers use to achieve complete legibility all while maintaining good
design properties and principles. With experimentation it is possible to have a
well designed, aesthetically pleasing, yet legible piece.
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