As full disclosure, I am primarily a Calibri guy when it comes to note applications like Word and Docs but lean more towards Arial when using Excel or Sheets. And I’m partial to 11 as my font size.
According to Shaun Wallace, a doctoral candidate in computer science at Brown University, my font style and size are likely the reasons this blog has not gone viral :-). For the majority of my older readers, that is, those over 35, my typeface apparently is why you read so slowly. Here is the link to the research study, aptly titled “Towards Individuated Reading Experiences.” The basic metric for the study was words per minutes, or WPM, and each study participant was measured on 5 different fonts. In all, 16 different fonts were used, with appropriate experimental controls for things like order effects. The variance in WPM was huge, observing some 35% faster reading speed in a participant’s fastest font (314 WPM) compared to that same person’s slowest font (232 WPM, on average). Here are the 16 typefaces measured in the study:
The findings were conclusively inconclusive – there is no BEST font and reading habits and preferences are fairly personalized – font optimization was not demonstrated.
There is a new push in public education for what is called the Science of Reading. In the state of Texas, all kindergarten through third grade teachers are expected to complete required training related to this new initiative. My wife and I attended an awards ceremony on Thursday night for seniors who stood out for curricular and/or extracurricular accomplishments and each honoree was invited to share remarks on an inspirational teacher. A prevailing theme from these testimonials was the belief that, for these talented high schoolers, their teachers taught them as students yet talked to them as thought partners. It was a great evening, and quite honestly, the antithesis of what easily could have defaulted to a hubristic ho hum affair. The recognized teachers were prideful for sure but it was obvious this was a cup-filling event for them. Many have said you can’t pour from an empty cup and this night was special in witnessing the fill up.
Tonight is prom night for my oldest and my wife and I are taking turns waking each other up. I suspect this senior dance is practice for what lies ahead for us with our college bound first-born. I’m thankful for all the teachers that have influenced his path as well as so many others. I’m thankful for all these same teachers that “talked” to him because more often my speeches fell on deaf ears I suspect. And most importantly, now that I know a bit more about the science of reading and typeface impact, I need to get my younger son to crack the code so I can text with various font! My first note in Garamond will be “It’s time to get home son!”
Happy Mother’s Day to all you matriarchs and caregivers!
What if? Why Not? 