Chapter 4 Response - Allison Nolden

Chapter 4: Legibility

Chapter four discusses the importance of legibility in typographic forms.  The biggest part of typography is making it possible for a reader to understand with the least amount of difficulty.  The chapter begins by explaining that legibility is dependent on three things: contrast, simplicity, and proportion.  Though dependent on those three factors, the information in this chapter is given as guidelines for designers.  Garamond, Baskerville, and Bodoni are examples the book gives as well designed, legible typefaces.  Letterforms have developed in many variations but the basic structure of each letterform is the same.  These basic structures can be divided into four groups: vertical strokes, curved strokes, a combination of vertical and curved strokes, or oblique strokes.  Smaller distinctions between letter structures can be made with letter recognition of the upper halves or lower halves of letters.  Serif typefaces also give more detail to letter structures.  Legibility also greatly affects how words are perceived.  Word shape and internal pattern are important factors to word recognition.  Capital and lowercase letters have a lot to do with legibility.  If a piece text is in all uppercase letters or all lowercases letters the reader has a harder time reading.  Type size, line length, and interline spacing affect the spatial harmony and legibility.  Line length also affects readability and comprehension of the text.  Extra short or long lines will be harder to read and will require more energy.  Line length is also dependent on the type size and spacing.  The chapter then goes on to discuss how weight, character width, italics, obliques, and color can affect legibility.  Letter strokes that are too light or too dark make some typefaces more difficult to read.  The same is true for character width.  More condensed or expanded text can affect reading patterns.  Italics and obliques affect legibility as they are mainly used for emphasis. Choosing appropriate colors for text and backgrounds affect readability as well.  The chapter ends by explaining justified and unjustified text’s affect on legibility as well as paragraphs and indentations.  Finding the appropriate time to use justified text and paragraphs is key to making type legible. 

I found this chapter to be very detailed.  I understand the importance of legibility in typography and design I just had not realized all of the factors that affected it.  It was interesting to me when the book talked about being able to recognize different letters from only the top half or the right side, etc.  I have noticed that I have been able to do that but never connected to to the specific parts of letterforms.

I chose this image from the internet to accompany my response to chapter four because it is another example of legibility and color.