Science: Why the new type fonts make some readers feel good

You must have noticed that beginning with the Saturday Nation of January 30, the Nation has adopted a new font, which is bold, compact and impacts how the readers feel about the stories they read in the newspaper. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Not all readers, however, are pleased with the new look. One reader called long before the congratulatory message from Mr Okumu to ask NMG to bring back the old-look Nation.
  • Typography properly used can make reading printed matter more visually appealing, easier to read, understand and trust.
  • But readers should not lose sight of the fact that while typography and layout are important, the quality of the information presented is equally, if not more, important.

On Wednesday, Alfayo Okumu wrote to congratulate the Nation Media Group for the new-look Daily Nation.

“The new type font is quite appealing to the eye and makes the newspaper attractive and reader friendly. The pages are well organised and the use of different colours draws one’s attention to the different stories…. well done and long live the Nation!” he said.

You must have noticed that beginning with the Saturday Nation of January 30, the Nation has adopted a new font, which is bold, compact and impacts how the readers feel about the stories they read in the newspaper.

Not all readers, however, are pleased with the new look. One reader called long before the congratulatory message from Mr Okumu to ask NMG to bring back the old-look Nation.

He, like some other readers, is not happy with the new type fonts and typography, which he said was unattractive, intrusive and difficult to read.

He said reading those new-look headlines feel like walking through an acacia bush land in northern Kenya.

These two opposing responses to the new typography sounds like a case of the old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

But it isn’t, really. Typography — the craft of arranging type — is supposed to be some kind of a science.

Properly done, typography is intended to make the contents of a newspaper feel easier and better to read.

And experiments carried out, since Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type and revolutionised printing in the mid-15th century, have shown that typography properly used can make reading printed matter more visually appealing, easier to read, understand and trust.

It can add personality, even emotion and drama, to the newspaper pages.

Personally, I like the new NMG typography. This is not to say those readers who don’t like it are wrong.

WORD FROM THE EXPERTS

Although typography is a science, it has to be related to something that we can easily associate with, relate to or understand.

Let’s say the best fonts are those the majority of readers find meaningful — fonts that speak to them positively.

As French poet Paul Claudel once said, “The secret of type is that it speaks.”

Let’s take an example. In yesterday’s Daily Nation the headline in the new type font proclaimed The face of hope in war against cancer.

Imagine, for a moment, the same headline printed in Comic sans — the casual font used in comic books and informal documents such as birthday invitation cards, or Courier, the font that is designed to imitate the output of a typewriter.

The message would have had a different impact in the minds of many readers. Some readers, I imagine, might not even have taken the story seriously.

Studies by typographers have shown that fonts affect how readers grasp and process information and certain typefaces and layouts can make a reader feel good and comfortable about what one is reading.

That is why choosing the right font and typography is a form of science.

Adrian Frutiger, a Swiss typeface designer who hugely influenced modern typography, compares fonts with spoons. “If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape.

INSPIRATION

The spoon and the letter are tools; one to take food from the bowl, the other to take information off the page … when it is a good design, the reader has to feel comfortable because the letter is both banal and beautiful.”

A study on how font and layout affect our emotions by Kevin Larson, a psychologist who spent his career researching typefaces, found well-designed printed matter makes people feel inspired by what they read.

Readers might even forgive the shortcomings of a story if the design is good.

But readers should not lose sight of the fact that while typography and layout are important, the quality of the information presented is equally, if not more, important.

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