Thursday, January 16, 2014

Chapter 4 Summary- Connor Posey


Chapter 4:Legibility
Connor Posey

Legibility is the clarity of the words given to read and understand. It was interesting to see just how legibility is a forever-changing thing. As the written word has evolved and grown to digital word, the way people see clarity changes correspondingly to the changing environment. It was also interesting learning just what letters are more clear to readers in instances of graphic pieces distorting or covering the text. Another thing that was discussed was the spacing involved in legibility. In some words, the letters have differentiated spacing that can be more clearly read by evening out those spacing to help the viewer optically. You must also be careful with bold and light texts as to not diminish or overwhelm the meaning of the word. This can also be said with italics and obliques. And also extended and condensed character width. Too much of a good thing can turn bad and illegible. Type size also, depending on the situation, can influence the overall clarity. If a type size in a document is over 12 pts., it may influence the reader to pause and take more time while reading it because greater impact is seen through the larger than average text. Also, color has a great impact on clarity. The good uses involve white text on dark gray and black and also black text on light grey or white backgrounds. Value and hue changes to like colored text and backgrounds makes it more illegible. Justified and unjustified text forms in paragraphs are both legible, but must be done clearly and without extreme ragged edges. With justified, everything is clear and concise, and with unjustified text, the shorter and longer edges cue the reader to the next line.There are many essentials in creating a legible piece that is as clear to the viewer as possible without losing the creative impact.

“The whole duty of typography, as with calligraphy, is to communicate to the imagination, without loss by the way, the thought or image intended to be communicated by the author.”

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