"Typeface and Document Persona in Magazines"

Nida M. Stewart

Nida M. Stewart is currently a senior at New Mexico Tech where she is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in both Technical Communication and Psychology. Nida's interests include editing, document design, user interfaces, and instructional writing. She currently works as an editor for Policies and Procedures for New Mexico Tech. 

Contents

Abstract and Introduction

Literature Review

Research Methodology

Synthesis of Results 

Discussion 

Conclusion

Works Cited

Appendix A: List of Magazines Used in Research

Appendix B: Comprehensive Heading Magazine Listing

Appendix C: Comprehensive Body Text and Blurb Magazine

Literature Review

Background

Typography is the modification, design, and arrangement of glyphs and letters, creating a communication method alternative to oral communication.  Even though we may spend little time actually thinking about typography, we are constantly exposed to it.  When we drive down the road, we often see billboards with creative typography attempting to interest us in what companies are selling.  When we browse the Internet, we are constantly exposed to various typefaces even if we do not realize it.  Even when we make dinner, most of the products we have in our cupboards or refrigerator use imaginative typography, along with appealing images, to attract our attention.  Typography is used in numerous forms of communication, but we often do not take the time to understand the implications of the typefaces that we use.  Although color and layout are both important aspects of visual design and communication, typography is something that garners less attention than the other aspects of visual design.

In order to understand the importance of typography in a document, we need to investigate whether typography is actually important to a document, the implications of whether or not typeface can convey a visual message (often referred to as a “persona”), and whether typeface persona has an impact on the persona of the text itself (Brumberger 207).  As mentioned above, typographic persona is the visual message or personality a typeface displays, whether it be friendly, professional, or casual, for instance.  For example, a document written with a curvy, bubbly typeface (such as Comic Sans MS) may be seen as friendly or childish.  With the understanding of typeface persona established, we are able to analyze whether or not the presence of varying typeface personae affects a document (Brumberger).  For example, a document written with a serif font (such as Times New Roman) may be taken more seriously than a document written in Comic Sans MS because Times New Roman looks more clean and professional than Comic Sans MS.  Understanding the importance of typeface persona is vital because it gives us another means of making a document more appealing to an audience.

How Typography Affects a Document

With the revolution of computers and the revolution of word processing, people are able to access various collections of typography at the press of a button (Gump 270).  Many people use certain typefaces as default but others utilize these depending on their mood or personal preference.  Regardless of what typefaces we select, the typography we decide to use can directly influence the readability of a document.  Part of John E. Gump’s research revolves around the effect of typography on readability of a document.  Gump elaborates on Stopke and Staley’s study of characteristics that make one typeface different from another, such as the presence of serifs or the extension of a letter above or below the actual body of the letter (270).  He uses these characteristics to define generalized styles of typography, giving us a generalized framework of what we consider typeface persona.  Understanding these basics of typeface helps us understand how varied typography can be and why it is necessary to utilize typeface properly.

Gump’s study involves giving a sample group a message written in ten different typefaces and telling them to rate these typefaces as easy or difficult to read.  The majority of his subjects agreed on the readability of the fonts provided.  These results showed that the majority of the fonts he used in his study were either easy or difficult to read, with only one result being close to the center of the spectrum.  Comprehending the results of Gump’s study shows us that typeface affects whether or not a document is easy to read.  The utilization of an improper typeface in a document results in poor document design.

Clive Lewis and Peter Walker further elaborate on Gump’s study by also illustrating the importance of typeface through its effect on reading.  Lewis and Walker’s study focuses on “the perceptual qualities possessed by different typefaces” in relation to reading a document (241). The study rates typography as being fast or slow and/or heavy or light. One experiment conducted rates typefaces based on categories like the ones listed prior, and the typefaces shown are demonstrated by words that either correspond or refute qualities of these typefaces. Whereas Gump’s study showed that typeface varies greatly and that typography affects a document’s ability to easily be read, Lewis and Walker prove that there is typographic influence when a person reads a document and confirm that there is correlation between the typographic features of a word and the meaning derived from the text itself.  This information tells us that we need to pay attention to typography choices when creating a document.

Where Lewis and Walker’s study focused on typographic influences on reading, Thomas Wehr and Werner Wippich took a different approach and researched the effect of typography and color on memory.  They tested whether words written in color or in a distinct typeface would improve the memory of a subject.  They determined that words written in a distinct typeface or in color were thought of as “remembered” than words that did not display these features.  This study shows us that typeface may have a distinct effect on memory, especially if something is written in a distinct typeface.

Another study that emphasizes the importance of typography is Emily Skarzenski’s examination of Colin Wheidon’s studies.  She takes the results of Wheidon’s studies and condenses down the information to give a brief summary of tips that document designers can utilize to make a more efficient document.  She does discuss other aspects of visual design such as color and layout, but her primary focus is on the use of typography.  She gives advice on things to avoid in document design such as writing text in all capital letters because it makes the text difficult to read (425).  She also points out how serif font increases comprehension for readers over sans-serif fonts by five times (424).  Her observations and conclusions gained from Wheidon’s work give further proof that typeface has an effect on both document presentation and cognition.

Valerie Vance’s article is similar to Emily Skarzenski’s article in that it also touches on basics of typography and the importance of properly utilizing it in a document.  She focuses on document readability as well as basic tips to get the best effect when using typography in a document.  Even though her article is not nearly as in-depth as the ones previously discussed, she further illustrates the point that typography “creates the personality of any publication” and that basic knowledge of typography can “make a substantial difference in the final product” (Vance).

Skarzenski, Lewis and Walker, Wehr and Wippich, Vance, and Gump all confirm that typography affects the documents they are utilized in.  Improper choices in typography can negatively affect a document, whereas appropriate choices in typography can improve the quality of the document.  Lewis and Walker’s study showed how typefaces affect the text, but there are more studies that prove that typeface can affect the readability of a document.

Typeface and Readability of Documents

Instead of employing hard copies in their research (as Gump, Lewis and Walker, and Skarzenski did), Kong-King Shieh, Ming-Te Chen, and Jiunn-Huei Chuang use Visual Terminal Displays (VDT) to offer a different perspective on the effects of typeface usage. These authors collected information on correct performance, fatigue of individuals, critical fusion frequency, preference, as well as a few other sets of information involving forty subjects. The study evaluated color combinations of background and text, typography, character complexity, and frequency. The authors refer to typeface as one of “two important characteristics of visual stimuli that may affect visual performance” (170). Results obtained show that color combination has little to no effect on the identification of characters, whereas the most significant results involved the use of typography. Cluttered characters directly affect the speed of comprehension, even if the characters are aesthetically pleasing.  Lewis and Walker’s study showed how typeface affects the readability of a print document; Shieh, Chen, and Chuang show that the same is also applicable for VDTs, as well. This article is another study that shows how typeface is an essential component in creating an effective document.

Another important aspect of typography is the readability of the document due to choice in type and type size. Aries Arditi’s article focuses on maximizing the readability of typeface for people who have visual disabilities.  In his study, he modified typeface in numerous ways to see if changes in typography improve the readability.  He tested the modified typography on people with varying ranges of visual disability.  Often, we can never tell who will read documents that we produce.  We also cannot be sure that the person to whom we present a document to does not have a visual disability.  The results of his study showed that the manipulation of some typefaces helps readability for people with visual disabilities.  If modification of typeface helps visually disabled people read documents, we can only assume that modifying typeface appropriately can also help those who are not visually disabled to view documents more easily.

Manfred MacKeben performed a similar study to Arditi’s adjustable typography article.  In his article, he observes the ability of six adults to distinguish between letters displayed in various typefaces.  The conclusion he came to is that if letters had similar features (such as a capital I and a lowercase l, for instance), it was harder for the subjects to distinguish between the two unless each had defining features which set them apart from one another.  Adjusting specific typefaces could result in improved readability.  This study shows us how selections of appropriate typefaces can assist the reader in ease of reading a document.

Arditi conducted another study with Jianna Cho to assess the effect of serifs in respect to text readability.  In Arditi’s adjustable typography study, he focused on modifying typography in various ways (serifs, letter aspect ratio, letter and word spacing, etc.) to make it more readable for people with visual disabilities.  In the study, Arditi and Cho focus on the resulting effect of the modification of typeface’s serif size on readability.  The researchers conducted three experiments testing the effect of serif size on font legibility.  One important experiment involved changing different parameters of fonts (such as serif size, spacing, and cap height) and having participants discern which parameter changes affected them.  The results showed that only spacing and serif size were significant in affecting font legibility (2929).  The other two experiments conducted tested the effect of these parameter changes on continuous reading and rapid presentation and recognition.  Concerning both speed thresholds and continuous reading, serif size did not have a significant effect on either.  Although their study did not come to any conclusive conclusions about the effect of serifs on readability, they do believe that serifs do make a slight difference when utilized with smaller sized text (2932).

Another study in a similar vein researched the effect of typographic size on the readability of text for children.  Laura Hughes and Arnold Wilkins observe the effects of typographic size on the reading ability of children from the ages of five to eleven.  They concluded that the older a subject was, the less difficulty they had with smaller text (321).  Regardless, if the text was rather small, it induced stress within the subjects, regardless of what age group they were in.  This study shows us that it is important to pay attention to the audience when making typographic decisions.  Choosing a size of type that is inappropriate for the audience may lead to disinterest and unnecessary stress on the reader.

Whereas all the researchers above focused on the typeface of a document as a whole, Erica McAteer focused on using typeface styles as a method of emphasizing text, similarly to Wehr and Wippich who used color and typeface to influence saliency.  In her article, McAteer writes about the use of uppercase and italics as a method of emphasis.  Her study shows us how even a different style of emphasis can inherently change the implied meaning of the emphasis itself (349).  Although her study does not focus on specific typefaces, she illustrates an important point about how the presentation of a document’s typography can affect the interpretation of a document as a whole.

The research of Arditi, MacKeben, Arditi and Cho, Hughes and Wilkins, McAteer, and Shieh, Chen, and Chuang all show us different ways that typography can affect readability, and all of their studies illustrated the importance of typography in various forms of media such as VDTs, computers, and print documents.  Now that we better understand the importance and effects of typography, we need to understand how typographic and text persona play a part in the utilization of typography.

Typeface and Text Persona

Now that we have established the importance of typography, we can further analyze typeface by looking into typographic and text persona.  The persona of text and typeface is determined by what kind of personality something such as a document or typeface portrays.  This persona can range anywhere from being professional to friendly.  Researchers such as Eva Brumberger and Jo Mackiewicz show us the importance of analyzing both typeface and text persona when creating a document.

In the article “The Rhetoric of Typography: The Persona of Typeface and Text,” Eva Brumberger used literary research and hypothesis testing to determine whether or not typeface and/or text have definitive persona; understanding whether or not typeface and text has definitive persona helps communicators relate the importance of matching appropriate typography with document contents. Brumberger conducted two experiments to conducted to analyze typeface and text persona. The first experiment asked students whether specific typefaces exhibit a personality. The second experiment asked students if designated collections of text exhibit a specific persona. Both experiments showed strong evidence that people can see that typeface and text can show evidence of persona. This information tells us that it would be a good idea to examine what persona a typeface or text displays as well as the persona that is attached to text before using it in a document.  Even though researchers such as Gump showed us that the choice of typeface affects the ease of reading a document, Brumberger further elaborated on Lewis and Walker’s study that the selection of typeface is important since typography can relay a specific persona.  She also concluded that a document itself can relay a persona of its own, which is something that Lewis and Walker did not mention.

Brumberger conducted another study of typeface persona, as discussed in her article "The Rhetoric of Typography: Effects on Reading Time, Reading Comprehension, and Perceptions of Ethos."  In this experiment, she tested the effects of text and typeface persona on reading comprehension, reading time, and the perception of ethos.  She determined that although her selected typefaces had no significant effect on reading time and reading comprehension, typeface selection did shape the ethos of the text and how the reader viewed the text itself (20).  This study gives us the impression that, although typography may not affect our reading capabilities, the choice of typography may influence how we interpret what we read.

Jo Mackiewicz’s article focuses on another study conducted to gauge a typeface’s personality, with this one based on studying five specific letterforms to see the extent to which they affect the reader’s perception of the typefaces as friendly or professional.  This study is similar to Brumberger’s research because it focuses on the persona or personality of a typeface, but this study focuses on gauging typographic personality using five specific letterforms.  The letterforms she studies are the letters j, a, g, e, and n (Mackiewicz 291).  She concludes that fonts which are typically seen as friendly are not seen as professional (and vice-versa).  She also details different characteristics of various typefaces that change the readability and personality of a font.  Although she used a different methodology to approach the matter, Mackiewicz comes to the same conclusion as Brumberger: that there is evidence that typeface persona does exist.  Understanding this concept further emphasizes the importance of understanding and analyzing typography.

The article by A. Dawn Shaikh, Barbara S. Chaparro, and Doug Fox also examines whether or not personality traits are personified through typography.  The study that these researchers conducted was similar to Brumberger’s study in “The Rhetoric of Typography: The persona of Typeface and Text.”  The researchers took twenty different font samples and had 561 participants analyze the typefaces based on given adjectives and given uses for said typefaces.  The results obtained determined that some fonts were seen as more appropriate for certain situations (such as websites or documentation) than others.  The results suggest that personality traits are indeed attributed to typefaces depending on the general family they fall in (such as serif, sans serif, etc).  This study further elaborates on Brumberger and Mackiewicz’s studies in that typefaces do exhibit personality traits.

Studies by Brumberger, Shaikh, Chaparro, Fox, and Mackiewicz take the previously mentioned studies a step further to show that not only is the utilization of typography is important, but also it is important to observe the persona of the typefaces being utilized.  In three of their own studies, Brumberger, Shaikh, Chaparro, Fox, and Mackiewicz further employ the use of typeface persona in explaining how the misuse of a typographic persona can cause discontent in the reading of a document.

Typeface Appropriateness

To further emphasize the importance of typographic personality, we need to see if the typeface persona actually affects the readability of the document.  Following up on her previous study, Brumberger takes some of the personalities that she established in her previous studies to see whether the typeface persona affects a document.  A previous study conducted by Mackiewicz shows the general importance of appropriately utilizing typeface persona.

Brumberger demonstrates the importance of the appropriate use of typeface and typeface persona, as discussed in her article "The Rhetoric of Typography: The Awareness and Impact of Typeface Appropriateness” by conducting two separate studies. The first study she conducted involves measuring whether or not a typeface is appropriate for a selected text passage that portrays a specific persona. The second study conducted involved measuring whether or not “the persona established by the typeface affects readers’/viewers’ perception of its persona established by the style and content of the text itself” (227). The first study showed that readers were “aware of the dissonance between typeface and text personas” (227). The second study showed that typeface persona has little effect on the reader’s perception of the text persona. The author concludes with questions about the effect of typeface persona on other interactions with the document such as reading time, reading comprehension, and author credibility. This study is important because it shows us the importance of relating typeface persona to a document; if a document’s typography is inappropriate, a reader will feel dissonance even if he or she is not consciously looking for this mismatch.  It follows up on her previous study’s gap by further proving that writers need to structure the typefaces that they use to fit the document they are writing.

Mackiewicz’s article “What Technical Writing Students Should Know about Typeface Personality” focuses on the importance of typeface personality through the study of previous literature on typeface and typeface personalities. She elaborates on how to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate typefaces as well as gives history on the usage of typefaces, much like Brumberger does in her own study. She also notes specific aspects of typefaces that we need to look at in order to classify them, such as proportion, modeling, and construction. This study is important because it further elaborates on typeface persona and appropriateness while showing what criteria makes one typeface different from another.

David Berleant conducted a study on thirty different proposals to see if the typeface had an effect on the assessment of the document. Berleant’s judgment criteria were whether or not the typeface makes the document favorable or less favorable and whether or not the document is visibly appealing.  In relation to typeface, he concludes that headings should be in sans-serif fonts, and font sizes should be less than 12pt because it helps emphasized whether or not people view said proposals as more favorable.  The document is a bit misleading because the author focuses on more aspects than just typography and typeface, and type and type size are not the primary focus in the document; he also focuses on word choice and stylistic elements.  Just as Brumberger showed that inappropriate typeface in a document causes feelings of dissonance, Berleant’s study showed us that Brumberger and Mackiewicz are not the only ones that care about the appropriateness of typeface in a document.

Brumberger, Berleant, and Mackiewicz prove the same point using different strategies, showing us that it is important to pay attention to typefaces and the persona that they portray.  Significantly, many of these studies have been conducted in controlled situations, which make us wonder if these studies would hold up in uncontrolled environments.

Trends in Researched Media

All the researchers discussed in previous sections have shown us the different ways that typeface affects the documents that we read.  We can see typefaces as being easy or difficult to read, while in other situations, we see it as being appropriate or inappropriate for the type of document we are looking at.  While researchers have analyzed typeface in controlled situations, as stated in the above research, there is a gap in field observation of persona trends. Most of the research conducted in the study of typography and typographical elements generally revolves around controlled selections of typeface and reading material.  Few, if any, studies have analyzed material in a publication such as a magazine to see if typographical design properties are utilized.

Whereas previous studies that I have found primarily focus on short passages modified by the researcher as necessary, I will be looking comprehensively at typography in magazines.  The goal of this study is to address this gap by observing a specific type of media (magazines) to see if there are trends in the utilization of typeface and typeface persona.  I also want to see if these trends vary depending on the demographic at which the magazine is aimed .

Researching typographic trends in media would be very beneficial to the current studies of typography because, as mentioned above, I was unable to find any studies on typography involving already published media.  Although it is beneficial to show the importance of typography and how it affects a document, it is important to know whether publishers see this importance and apply these typographic guidelines in their documents.  This study is beneficial to both technical communication and typographic studies because magazines are a widely read medium that reach thousands of people, making them a worthy medium of observing.  Unlike books which generally adhere to a given format (such as trade paperback novels), there is a lot more flexibility in the design of magazines.  Investigating such a flexible, popular medium would be optimal for observing possible typographic trends.