A
friend of mine had been talking to me about this article, Hear All You People Harken O Earth, for quite some time
now, so I figured I would finally read it to get her off my back. The whole idea of the article is that font
choice can and does have a real world bearing on how we react, positively or
negatively, to a written article. This article is a little boring to read because of all the
mathematical and statistical language, but still really interesting.
I
think that the most interesting part of the article is the part when the
student is talking about how his font choice changed the grade he received on
several of his papers. In total, he had written 52 essays. Eleven in Times New
Roman, 18 in Trebuchet MS, and 23 in Georgia. Of the three font faces, the
essays written in Georgia averaged a solid A, Times New Roman had an average of
A-, while Trebuchet only averaged a B-.
Although
the previous example is purely anecdotal, the article does contain other
studies and examples to bolster the idea that type face choice also carries
with it a feeling or emotional value. This article will make me think twice
about what font I use on my next term paper.
I love going through typefaces & deciding which one to used based on my subject matter. I think this is very interesting to hear about how the typefaces received different grade averages! Makes me reconsider which typefaces I use for my schoolwork.
ReplyDeleteIt is really interesting reading about effect of typefaces on influence and perceptions of truth. Fonts hold a lot of significance in a message, article, or other text as it helps define the appearance and demeanor associated with the content. The results from the essay experiment show how important typeface choice is and how people tend to view certain typeface in particular context as credible and appealing or misleading and insignificant.
ReplyDeleteI can not believe that the author of the article actually put together a small study using his own term papers. I would have never thought to change the typeface on an average school essay, because we were trained for so long to use either MLA or APA formatting. It is a relief to know that Times New Roman is not always the best typeface to use, because after 3 pages I personally believe that it becomes a bit of an eyesore. I have always had problems with picking an accurate typeface, so this article is very useful!
ReplyDeleteThis is quite a interesting article, and entertaining to think what the effects of choosing the right or wrong type face could be. When writing school essays I hardly think of what type face to use, and this makes me wish I would analyze that a little more. Typefaces can affect the appeal of several product of ad, and seeing how can also affect schoolwork only proves how typography is a very important part of any visual.
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