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The Legibility of Serif and Sans Serif Typefaces

Reading from Paper and Reading from Screens

  • Book
  • Open Access
  • © 2022

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Overview

Authors:
  1. John T. E. Richardson

    1. Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

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  • Provides the first systematic review of the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces in nearly 60 years
  • Explores the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces material on both paper and screens
  • Investigates the differences in people’s preferences among typefaces
  • This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Education (BRIEFSEDUCAT)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
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  2. Introduction

    • John T. E. Richardson
    Pages 1-10Open Access
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  3. Concepts and Research Methods

    • John T. E. Richardson
    Pages 11-17Open Access
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  4. Reading from Paper

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
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    2. “Everybody Knows”: Reading from Paper

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 21-25Open Access
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    3. The Legibility of Letters and Words

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 27-33Open Access
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    4. Reading and Comprehending Text

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 35-41Open Access
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    5. Reading in Context

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 43-51Open Access
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    6. Younger and Older Readers

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 53-61Open Access
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    7. Readers with Disabilities

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 63-74Open Access
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    8. General Conclusions to Part I

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 75-80Open Access
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  5. Reading from Screens

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81
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    2. “Everybody Knows”: Reading from Screens

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 83-90Open Access
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    3. The Legibility of Letters and Words

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 91-96Open Access
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    4. Reading and Comprehending Text

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 97-107Open Access
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    5. Readers with Disabilities

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 109-112Open Access
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    6. Reading Text in Internet Browsers

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 113-121Open Access
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    7. General Conclusions to Part II

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 123-127Open Access
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    8. Coda: Lessons Learned

      • John T. E. Richardson
      Pages 129-131Open Access
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  6. Back Matter

    Pages 133-161
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Keywords

About this book

This open access book provides a detailed and up-to-date account of the relevant literature on the legibility of different kinds of typefaces, which goes back over 140 years in the case of reading from paper and more than 50 years in the case of reading from screens. It describes the origins of serif and sans serif styles in ancient inscriptions, their adoption in modern printing techniques, and their legibility in different situations and in different populations of readers. It also examines recent research on the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces when used with internet browsers, smartphones and other hand-held devices. The book investigates the difference in the legibility of serif typefaces and sans serif typefaces when they are used to produce printed material or when they are used to present material on computer monitors or other screens and it explores the differences in readers’ preferences among typefaces.

The book’s main focus is on the psychology of reading, but there are clear implications for education and publishing. Indeed, the book can be read with benefit by anyone concerned with communicating with others through written text, whether it is printed on paper or displayed on computer screens.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    John T. E. Richardson

About the author

John T. E. Richardson is emeritus professor in student learning at the UK Open University. He taught and researched in psychology at Brunel University from 1975 to 2001, when he moved to the Open University to take up a new chair in student learning and assessment in the Institute of Educational Technology. His main research interests were concerned with the relationship between students’ perceptions of their courses of study in higher education and the approaches to studying that they adopt on those courses. He was also responsible for institutional research on the evaluation of both courses and programmes of study at the Open University. In 2002-2003, he contributed to the report of the Student Feedback Project Steering Group to the Higher Education Funding Council for England on Collecting and Using Student Feedback on Quality and Standards of Learning and Teaching in HE, and in 2003-2005 he was part of a team based at the Open University that carried out a pilot study for the Funding Council towards the National Student Survey. He was a co-director of a project on the social and organisational mediation of university learning funded under Phase III of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme from 2004 to 2008. In 2008, he completed a literature review on the role of ethnicity and gender as predictors of degree attainment as part of the HEA/ECU Ethnicity, Gender and Degree Attainment Project and was a member of the team that produced a report for the Funding Council on league tables and their impact on higher education institutions. He retired from the Open University in July 2017.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Legibility of Serif and Sans Serif Typefaces

  • Book Subtitle: Reading from Paper and Reading from Screens

  • Authors: John T. E. Richardson

  • Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Education

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90984-0

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Author(s) 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-90983-3Published: 16 February 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-90984-0Published: 15 February 2022

  • Series ISSN: 2211-1921

  • Series E-ISSN: 2211-193X

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 161

  • Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Literacy, Applied Linguistics, Science Education

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