The Personality of Fonts -- Take Our Survey!

Often credited with creating a first impression, fonts are classified according to unique typographical features (serif, sans serif, etc) and overall appearance. The combination of appearance and typographical features frequently lead graphic artists and typographers to describe typefaces using personality traits (“less cuddly, more assertive,” Berry, 2004). In a recent BBC audio program (Peacock, 2005), fonts were depicted as feminine and masculine, among other traits. Typographers and designers are often interested in the typeface personality or “typographic allusion” which refers to “the capacity of a typestyle to connote meaning over and above the primary meaning which is linguistically conveyed by words” (Lewis & Walker, 1989, p. 243).

Studies have investigated the perceived personality of fonts for printed text; however, similar studies have not been conducted regarding onscreen text. We are investigating the perceived personalities and uses of a variety of fonts used onscreen.

As subscribers to Usability News, we thought it would be interesting to include your data in our analyses. We are eager to include diverse populations to better generalize our findings to those who are designing and developing for digital media.

Please take the time (30-45 minutes) to complete our online survey by clicking the following link (this link will open a new browser window):

Click on this link to take the survey at http://www.shaikh.us/fontstudy/

We thank you for your time and your interest. Results of the survey will be posted in our next issue of Usability News.

Berry, J.D. (2004). Now read this: The Microsoft ClearType font collection. Seattle, WA: Microsoft Corporation.

Lewis, C., & Walker, P. (1989). Typographic influences on reading. British Journal of Psychology, 80, 241-257.

Peacock, I. (Speaker). (2005). From Arial to Wide Latin (Radio Broadcast). London: BBC Radio. (Available online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/fromarialtowidelatin.shtml)