DOCSLIB.ORG

Vision Performance Institute

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Vision Performance Institute Technical Report Effect of Character Spacing on Text Legibility Yu-Chi Tai, Shun-nan Yang, and John Hayes, James Sheedy Vision Performance Institute, Pacific University, Oregon, USA Running title: Font size and optimal inter-letter spacing Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Yu-Chi Tai, Vision Performance Institute, Pacific University in Oregon, Forest Grove, OR 97116. Email: [email protected] Phone: 1.503.352.2289. Abstract This study investigated the effect of inter-letter spacing on letter and word recognition over a range of font sizes, font types, and different levels of text familiarity (word frequency). Inter-letter spacing affects the degree of lateral interference form neighboring letters. For commonly used fonts, character spacing is proportional to font size. Since lateral interference would be expected to operate over a fixed retinal area, we hypothesized that, relative to the default spacing for the common 10- to 12-point fonts, the optimal inter-letter spacing would be larger for smaller font sizes and smaller for larger font sizes. We also hypothesize that optimal spacing will be smaller for familiar words than for unfamiliar words because of top-down enhancement and that sans serif fonts will need wider spacing than serif fonts because of the extra contours. Fifty-four subjects were recruited and tested in two tasks: text (letter and word) recognition and spacing preference. In the text recognition, subjects were asked to read aloud 840 words or the middle letter in each of 420 random-letter strings. Half of the words were high-frequency and the other half low-frequency. All words and letter strings were 5 letters in length, created in 72-point font rendered in Grayscale on a LCD screen, and viewed at various distances to simulate font sizes and spacings. After text recognition, subjects were asked to choose the preferred image among 12 layouts of a same word or letter string. These 12 layout differed by inter-spacing only. Subjects responded faster and more accurately to bigger font, more familiar words, and with wider spacing. The effect of inter-letter spacing was stronger for smaller fonts and less familiar text (low-frequency words or letter strings) than for larger fonts. There was stronger effect of condensed spacing on sans serif fonts for regular and smaller fonts, but overall, the results were similar between font types. Overall the results support the hypotheses and suggest the use of wider spacing for smaller font sizes and more condensed spacing for bigger fonts. Introduction In typography, inter-letter spacing (also called tracking) refers to the amount of white space between two letters. Unlike kerning, which is the special adjustment of spacing between two particular characters, inter-letter spacing generally applies to the overall spacing between all neighboring characters in a set and affects the information (character) density in a line or a block of text. The size of inter-letter spacing affects text legibility as it manipulates the amount of lateral interference among neighboring characters. Studies have found that the presence of neighboring characters interferes with the processing of individual characters (Yang, Tai, Hayes, & Sheedy, 2009) or words (Sheedy, Subbaram, Zimmerman, & Hayes, 2005; Tai, Sheedy, & Hayes, 2006). It has been identified that the size threshold for identifying single letters (i.e., a measure of legibility) is much smaller than the size threshold for identifying words, which is referred to as the “letter superiority effect” (Sheedy et al., 2005). By increasing the distance between characters, word legibility improved and gradually reached an asymptote close to single character legibility (Tai et al., 2006). Current common practice is to have the same proportional spacing applied to a range of font sizes. Such proportional scaling maintains the spatial ratio for a character and its adjacent space; however, it may not be the best design to optimize reading performance. Since lateral interference apparently operates over a relatively fixed retinal distance regardless the size of the characters, smaller spacing between characters can cause larger lateral interference effects on word recognition. Empirical evidence indicated that the default spacing at common text of 10- to 12-point font is barely enough to avoid lateral interference for 10- and 12-point fonts, as shown by the existence of the letter superiority effect (Tai et al., 2007). Consequently, the proportional spacing will result in tighter spacing for smaller font sizes, which would be expected to cause measurable lateral interference. The interference may be further exacerbated by the degradation of the small-font text image, due to fewer pixels displaying each character. At larger font sizes, the proportional spacing results in larger spacing and hence letter recognition should be free from the lateral interference of neighboring letters. For larger font sizes words and letters are expected to have the same response time and letter spacing likely can be reduced without compromising word legibility. In addition to font size, typeface is another factor significantly affecting text legibility (e.g., Mansfield, Legge, & Bane, 1996; Sheet et al., 2005); however, it is not clear whether the effect of inter-letter spacing will be the same across font types, such as between serif and sans serif fonts. Some researchers believe that serifs enhance letter discrimination by making the special features more distinctive and decipherable and increasing the salience of the main strokes (e.g., McLean, 1980; Rubinstein, 1988); however, there are good reasons to argue that serifs are small and ornamental with little impact, or even being harmful for taking up space from the main strokes. While extra spacing is needed to accommodate the addition of serifs, the average spacing between two serif letters (from the nearest point of a glyph to another glyph) is usually no larger than sans serif letters, due to the process of kerning or the adjustment made to accommodate serifs from two glyphs within the same space (see Table 1). However, the distance between the main strokes could be potentially larger in serif fonts in order to accommodate the glyphs. The actual spacing between characters is determined by the font designers. Table 1. Samples of text and spacing width - serif and sans serif fonts. 12-pt Sans serif fonts Corbel The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Calibri The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Candara The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Arial The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Helvetica The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Tahoma The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Futura The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Comic The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Frutiger The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Verdana The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. 12-pt Serif fonts Cantaur The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Garamond The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Baskerville The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Times New The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Roman Bodoni MT The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Cambria The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Constantia The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Georgia The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Boon Antiqua The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. Palatino Linotype The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy dog. In this study we tested the effect of inter-letter spacing on letter and word recognition over a range of font sizes, font types, and different levels of lexical familiarity (word frequency). Our hypotheses are: 1. Relative to the default and proportional spacing for the common 10- to 12-point fonts, the optimal inter-letter spacing will be larger for smaller font sizes and smaller for larger font sizes. 2. Text recognition is affected by both bottom-up visual processing (e.g., character legibility) and top-down cognitive processing. Therefore the optimal spacing would be wider for unfamiliar words than for familiar words because feature identification would be more important for visual abstraction of unfamiliar words. 3. As there is more white space between the main strokes of two neighboring letters for sans serif fonts, we expected that the optimal spacing would be more condensed for serif fonts than for sans serif fonts. The current study manipulated these factors to test their effects on optimal spacing with different types of stimuli. It is expected that the findings will help improve font design. Methods Subjects Fifty subjects (34 females, age 18-60, average age: 28.17 yr old) were recruited from the Pacific University community for either monetary compensation or for course credit. They were all native English speakers, with normal or corrected-to-normal distance visual acuity of 20/20 or better for each eye, and without ocular pathology, oculomotor limitation, abnormality, or reading disabilities. Before participating in the experiment, each subject read and signed a consent form that was consistent with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Pacific University Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects. Material Two types of stimuli were constructed to examine the possible separate effects of spacing on word legibility , including 840 words and 420 non-word letter strings, each containing five characters. The words were selected from the MRC Psycholinguistic Database (http://www.psy.uwa.edu.au/MRCDataBase/uwa_mrc.htm). Half of the words were high- frequency words (occurring 200 to 13339 times per 3,000,000 words); the other half were low- frequency words (less than 20 occurrences per 3,000,000 words). The non-word letter strings were composed of five letters with the middle letter randomly selected from a set of 11 letters (a, c, e, n, o, r, s, u, v, x, z) and the other four letters generated by a computer program under the constraint that all five letters were different and not converted to be a real English word.
Recommended publications
  • Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

    Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

    Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR FORMATTING COMPUTER-GENERATED BRIEFS, WITH EXAMPLES The rules concerning the formatting of briefs are contained in CPLR 5529 and in § 1250.8 of the Practice Rules of the Appellate Division. Those rules cover technical matters and therefore use certain technical terms which may be unfamiliar to attorneys and litigants. The following glossary is offered as an aid to the understanding of the rules. Typeface: A typeface is a complete set of characters of a particular and consistent design for the composition of text, and is also called a font. Typefaces often come in sets which usually include a bold and an italic version in addition to the basic design. Proportionally Spaced Typeface: Proportionally spaced type is designed so that the amount of horizontal space each letter occupies on a line of text is proportional to the design of each letter, the letter i, for example, being narrower than the letter w. More text of the same type size fits on a horizontal line of proportionally spaced type than a horizontal line of the same length of monospaced type. This sentence is set in Times New Roman, which is a proportionally spaced typeface. Monospaced Typeface: In a monospaced typeface, each letter occupies the same amount of space on a horizontal line of text. This sentence is set in Courier, which is a monospaced typeface. Point Size: A point is a unit of measurement used by printers equal to approximately 1/72 of an inch.
  • Cloud Fonts in Microsoft Office

    Cloud Fonts in Microsoft Office

    APRIL 2019 Guide to Cloud Fonts in Microsoft® Office 365® Cloud fonts are available to Office 365 subscribers on all platforms and devices. Documents that use cloud fonts will render correctly in Office 2019. Embed cloud fonts for use with older versions of Office. Reference article from Microsoft: Cloud fonts in Office DESIGN TO PRESENT Terberg Design, LLC Index MICROSOFT OFFICE CLOUD FONTS A B C D E Legend: Good choice for theme body fonts F G H I J Okay choice for theme body fonts Includes serif typefaces, K L M N O non-lining figures, and those missing italic and/or bold styles P R S T U Present with most older versions of Office, embedding not required V W Symbol fonts Language-specific fonts MICROSOFT OFFICE CLOUD FONTS Abadi NEW ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 01234567890 Abadi Extra Light ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 01234567890 Note: No italic or bold styles provided. Agency FB MICROSOFT OFFICE CLOUD FONTS ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 01234567890 Agency FB Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 01234567890 Note: No italic style provided Algerian MICROSOFT OFFICE CLOUD FONTS ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 01234567890 Note: Uppercase only. No other styles provided. Arial MICROSOFT OFFICE CLOUD FONTS ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 01234567890 Arial Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 01234567890 Arial Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 01234567890 Arial Bold Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
  • Typography One Typeface Classification Why Classify?

    Typography One Typeface Classification Why Classify?

    Typography One typeface classification Why classify? Classification helps us describe and navigate type choices Typeface classification helps to: 1. sort type (scholars, historians, type manufacturers), 2. reference type (educators, students, designers, scholars) Approximately 250,000 digital typefaces are available today— Even with excellent search engines, a common system of description is a big help! classification systems Many systems have been proposed Francis Thibaudeau, 1921 Maximillian Vox, 1952 Vox-ATypI, 1962 Aldo Novarese, 1964 Alexander Lawson, 1966 Blackletter Venetian French Dutch-English Transitional Modern Sans Serif Square Serif Script-Cursive Decorative J. Ben Lieberman, 1967 Marcel Janco, 1978 Ellen Lupton, 2004 The classification system you will learn is a combination of Lawson’s and Lupton’s systems Black Letter Old Style serif Transitional serif Modern Style serif Script Cursive Slab Serif Geometric Sans Grotesque Sans Humanist Sans Display & Decorative basic characteristics + stress + serifs (or lack thereof) + shape stress: where the thinnest parts of a letter fall diagonal stress vertical stress no stress horizontal stress Old Style serif Transitional serif or Slab Serif or or reverse stress (Centaur) Modern Style serif Sans Serif Display & Decorative (Baskerville) (Helvetica) (Edmunds) serif types bracketed serifs unbracketed serifs slab serifs no serif Old Style Serif and Modern Style Serif Slab Serif or Square Serif Sans Serif Transitional Serif (Bodoni) or Egyptian (Helvetica) (Baskerville) (Rockwell/Clarendon) shape Geometric Sans Serif Grotesk Sans Serif Humanist Sans Serif (Futura) (Helvetica) (Gill Sans) Geometric sans are based on basic Grotesk sans look precisely drawn. Humanist sans are based on shapes like circles, triangles, and They have have uniform, human writing.
  • Letters Are Made for Reading

    Letters Are Made for Reading

    Letters are made for reading A lot of things has to be taken into consideration when you make typographical choices. With the typography of logos and headlines, etc, the style and tone of your publication is determined. But when it comes to the body text, legibility is more important than anything else. BACK IN THE LATE SEVENTIES when I was study- In ”micro” typography, on the other hand, legi- ing architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts, one bility is more important than style. Or maybe we of the rules we were taught was: ”A building must ought to talk about ”readability”, a phrase used by have a distinctive entrance”. That ought to make some typographers, making the point that what sense: It hardly matters what’s inside a house if you fi nd legible depends more than anything else you can’t fi nd the door, does it? on what you are used to read. However perfect Good typography, I’d say, is like the entrance the letterforms of a new typeface, it may still ap- to a house. It should lead you inside, help you to pear hard to read if people think it looks strange. the contents—which is indeed the most important Perhaps this is why most people still prefer text thing. with serifs even though repeated surveys have But then again, what is good typography? Well, shown no legibility differences between sans and as there are numerous disciplines of graphic de- serif typefaces. sign, this question does not have one single—or If you read the same newspaper every day, simple—answer.
  • Geography 360 Principles of Cartography

    Geography 360 Principles of Cartography

    Geography 360 Principles of Cartography April 26, 2006 Typography Outlines 1. Principles of typography • Anatomy of letterform • Classifying type family • Typographic variables 2. Using type for map design • Choosing type family • Choosing typographic variables • Guidelines for type placement 1. Principles of typography • What constitutes letterform? – with focus on serif and shading • Classifying type family – based on common characteristics of letterform • Typographic variables – Type style, size, case, spacing, … Some design aspects of letterform •Serif: finishing strokes added to the end of the main strokes of the letter • Shading: main slant of letterforms Source: Dent Figure 14.1 •Serif vs. San Serif • Diagonal shading vs. horizontal shading Aspects of letterform • Serif vs. Sans Serif – Serif: lettering styles that contain such finishing strokes – Sans Serif: lettering styles that do not contain such finishing strokes • Diagonal Shading vs. horizontal/vertical Shading – Where is the position of the maximum stress in curved letters? – See Dent Figure 14.3 What is type family? • Type family: a group of type designs that reflect common design characteristics and share a common base name (Fig. 11.18) Palatino Helvetica Bookman Gill Sans Classifying type family Alexander Lawson, 1971, Printing types: An Introduction Classifying type family Class Appearance Distinct Other characteristics name Black Letter Hand Decorative Text lettering Oldstyle Lacking Diagonal Roman geometric shading Modern Geometric Vertical/horizo ntal shading Sans Precise, No serif Gothic serif clean-cut Typographic variables • Type family can be further differentiated by typographic variables such as • Type style: italic, normal, bold (Fig. 11.18 B) • Type size: 24 point (Fig. 11. 18D) • Type case: UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, Sentence case (Fig.
  • Margin Kerning and Font Expansion with Pdftex

    Margin Kerning and Font Expansion with Pdftex

    Margin Kerning and Font Expansion with pdfTEX H`anTh´eTh`anh Introduction \f ends up at the right margin, it should be moved out to the margin by 700 thousandths of its width pdfT X has some micro-typographic extensions that E (i.e., 70 %). are not so widely used, for the lack of documentation It is conveninent to specify the protruding fac- and quite complicated setup. In this paper I would tor for individual characters in thousandths of char- like to describe their use in a step-by-step manner acter width. This is also the way how \rpcode so the reader can give a try afterwards. Two exten- was implemented in versions up to 0.14h. However, sions will be introduced: margin kerning and font this method cannot be used for characters with expansion. zero width (”faked” characters that can be used to Margin kerning is the technique to move the protrude other elements than normal characters), so characters slightly out to the margins of a text block in version 0.14h and later, the protruding amount in order to make the margins look straight. Without is specified in thousandths of an em of the font. margin kerning, certain characters when ending up A macro called \adjustprotcode (defined in file at the margins can cause the optical illusion that \protrude.tex) is used here to checks whether the the margins look rather ragged. Margin kerning used version is older than 0.14h and if so it will is similar to hanging punctuation, but it can also convert the settings for versions before 0.14h (i.e., in be applied to other characters as well.
  • Basic Styles of Lettering for Monuments and Markers.Indd

    Basic Styles of Lettering for Monuments and Markers.Indd

    BASIC STYLES OF LETTERING FOR MONUMENTS AND MARKERS Monument Builders of North America, Inc. AA GuideGuide ToTo TheThe SelectionSelection ofof LETTERINGLETTERING From primitive times, man has sought to crude or garish or awkward letters, but in communicate with his fellow men through letters of harmonized alphabets which have symbols and graphics which conveyed dignity, balance and legibility. At the same meaning. Slowly he evolved signs and time, they are letters which are designed to hieroglyphics which became the visual engrave or incise cleanly and clearly into expression of his language. monumental stone, and to resist change or obliteration through year after year of Ultimately, this process evolved into the exposure. writing and the alphabets of the various tongues and civilizations. The early scribes The purpose of this book is to illustrate the and artists refi ned these alphabets, and the basic styles or types of alphabets which have development of printing led to the design been proved in memorial art, and which are of alphabets of related character and ready both appropriate and practical in the lettering readability. of monuments and markers. Memorial art--one of the oldest of the arts- Lettering or engraving of family memorials -was among the fi rst to use symbols and or individual markers is done today with “letters” to inscribe lasting records and history superb fi delity through the use of lasers or the into stone. The sculptors and carvers of each sandblast process, which employs a powerful generation infl uenced the form of letters and stream or jet of abrasive “sand” to cut into the numerals and used them to add both meaning granite or marble.
  • Thai Typefaces (Part 1): Assumption on Visibility and Legibility Problems

    Thai Typefaces (Part 1): Assumption on Visibility and Legibility Problems

    Thai Typefaces (Part 1): Assumption on Visibility and Legibility Problems 1* 2 3 Rachapoom PUNSONGSERM , Shoji SUNAGA , Hisayasu IHARA 1 Graduate School of Design, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan 1 Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Thammasat University, Pathum Thani, Thailand 2,3 Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan Abstract Background Regarding the growing elderly population, which several countries are experiencing right now, various typeface designs have been developed to address the need for increased legibility and visibility. Certainly, common factors that affect the well-being of the elderly are related to visual acuity. The universal design fonts (UD fonts) developed in Japan are regarded as a role model for the development of highly legible and visible Thai typefaces. As Thailand’s society matures, the concern for creating a Thai UD font based on human-centered design is ideal for the purpose of supporting elderly people as well as people with amblyopia and low vision Methods As the first step to developing a Thai UD font, as a preliminary study, we qualitatively tested the tolerance of Thai characters under blurred conditions. We used the fifty Thai conventional text fonts in the boundary of ‘The Table of Thai Character's Relationship’ in the same character heights as stimuli. The stimuli simulated the visual acuity of people with poor vision at different blur levels. Results From the tests, we have established the expected Thai confused pairs, as the assumptions. We found the simulated condition revealed many problems with the visibility and the legibility matters of Thai Characters, as the assumptions; however, these findings led to ideas and possible solutions, which may provide assistance for the approach to designing the first Thai UD font.
  • Micro Typography Part 1: Spacing

    Micro Typography Part 1: Spacing

    MICRO TYPOGRAPHY PART 1 MICRO TYPOGRAPHY PART 1: SPACING Kerning :: Letter spacing :: Tracking :: Word Spacing Kerning :: Letter spacing :: Tracking :: Word Spacing KERNING Kerning is the act of adjusting the space between two characters to compensate for their relative shapes. It refers to removing space between two characters to restore the natural rhythm found among the characters in the rest of the text. If letters in a typeface are spaced mathematically even, they make a pattern that doesn’t look uniform enough. * Letter spacing: adding space between two characters within a word. Kerning :: Letter spacing :: Tracking :: Word Spacing KERNING: LETTER SHAPES There are four kinds of strokes that make up letter forms. These must be spaced in a logical, consistent manner to appear optically correct. The idea is to maintain comfortable optical volumes (figure/ground) between letter forms. Each letter should “flirt” with the one next to it. Kerning :: Letter spacing :: Tracking :: Word Spacing KERNING: LETTER SHAPES Here are the extreme spacing limits for combining stroke types. You can build your own letter spacing system for the other stroke combinations. Kerning :: Letter spacing :: Tracking :: Word Spacing KERNING PAIRS Kerning pairs are a pair of letters whose shapes (and negative space around those shapes) cause them to need a kerning adjustment. Sample letters which always need kerning: W, Y, V, T, L, O. Sample letter pairs which always need adjusting: Wy, Ae, Yo, Te, Wo. Often kerning happens between upper and lower case letters and
  • Choosing Fonts – Quick Tips

    Choosing Fonts – Quick Tips

    Choosing Fonts – Quick Tips 1. Choose complementary fonts – choose a font that matches the mood of your design. For business cards, it is probably best to choose a classic font. *Note: These fonts are not available in Canva, but are in the Microsoft Office Suite. For some good Canva options, go to this link – https://www.canva.com/learn/canva-for-work-brand-fonts/ Examples: Serif Fonts: Sans Serif Fonts: Times New Roman Helvetica Cambria Arial Georgia Verdana Courier New Calibri Century Schoolbook 2. Establish a visual hierarchy – Use fonts to separate different types of information and guide the reader - Use different fonts, sizes, weights (boldness), and even color - Example: Heading (Helvetica, SZ 22, Bold) Sub-heading (Helvetica, SZ 16, Italics) Body Text (Garamond, SZ 12, Regular) Captions (Garamond, SZ 10, Regular 3. Mix Serifs and Sans Serifs – This is one of the best ways to add visual interest to type. See in the above example how I combined Helvetica, a sans serif font, with Garamond, a serif font. 4. Create Contrast, Not Conflict: Fonts that are too dissimilar may not pair well together. Contrast is good, but fonts need a connecting element. Conflict Contrast 5. Use Fonts from the Same Family: These fonts were created to work together. For example, the fonts in the Arial or Courier families. 6. Limit Your Number of Fonts: No more than 2 or 3 is a good rule – for business cards, choose 2. 7. Trust Your Eye: These are not concrete rules – you will know if a design element works or not! .
  • Background a Short Introduction to Font Characteristics

    Background a Short Introduction to Font Characteristics

    fonts: background A short introduction to font characteristics Maarten Gelderman Hardly anyone will dispute the statement that proporion- ally spaced fonts are more beautiful and legible than mono- abstract spaced designs. In a monospaced design the letter i takes as Almost anyone who develops an interest in fonts is bound to much space as a letter m or W. Consequently, some char- be overwelmed by the bewildering variety of letterforms acters look simply too compressed, whereas around oth- available. The number of fonts available from commercial ers too much white space is found. Monospaced fonts are suppliers like Adobe, URW, LinoType and others runs into the simply not suited for body text. Only in situations where it thousands. A recent catalog issued by FontShop [Truong et al., is important that all characters are of equal width, e.g., in 1998] alone lists over 25.000 different varieties.1 And listings of computer programs, where it may be important somehow, although the differences of the individual letters are that each individual character can be discerned and where hardly noticable, each font has its own character, its own the layout of the program may depend on using mono- personality. Even the atmosphere elucided by a text set from spaced fonts, can the usage of a monospaced font be de- Adobe Garamond is noticably different from the atmosphere of the same text set from Stempel Garamond. Although fended. In most other situations, they should simply be decisions about the usage of fonts, will always remain in the avoided. realm of esthetics, some knowledge about font characteristics may nevertheless help to create some order and to find out Romans, italics and slant A second typeface character- why certain design decisions just do not work.
  • Developing an Arabic Typography Course for Visual Communication Design

    Developing an Arabic Typography Course for Visual Communication Design

    Developing an Arabic Typography course for Visual Communication Design Students in the Middle East and North African Region A thesis submitted to the School of Visual Communication Design, College of Communication and Information of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts by Basma Almusallam May, 2014 Thesis written by Basma Almusallam B.F.A, Kuwait University, 2008 M.F.A, Kent State University, 2014 Approved by ___________________________ Jillian Coorey, M.F.A., Advisor ___________________________ AnnMarie LeBlanc, M.F.A., Director, School of Visual Communication Design ___________________________ Stanley T. Wearden, Ph.D., Dean, College of Communication and Information Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………...... iii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………….. v PREFACE………………………………………………………………………………..... vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………. 1 The Current Issue………………………………………………….. 1 Core Objectives……………………………………………………. 3 II. THE HISTORY OF THE ARABIC WRITING SYSTEM, CALLIGRAPHY AND TYPOGRAPHY………………………………………....………….. 4 The Arabic Writing System……………………………………….. 4 Arabic Calligraphy………………………………………………… 5 The Undocumented Art of Arabic Calligraphy……………….…… 6 The Shift Towards Typography and the Digital Era………………. 7 The Pressing Issue of the Present………………………………….. 8 A NOTE ON THE PROCESS…………………………………………………………….. 10 Applying a Framework for Research Documentation…………….. 11 Mental Model……………………………………………………… 12 Proposed User Testing…………………………………………….