Comments on: 5 Common Visual Design Mistakes

By: 11 Articles To Stop You Making Designer Mistakes | Acuity Designs

11 Articles To Stop You Making Designer Mistakes | Acuity Designs — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:14:13 +0000

[...] 9) Articulate – 5 common visual design mistakes [...]

By: Viral Notebook | Michael M. Grant, Ph.D.

Viral Notebook | Michael M. Grant, Ph.D. — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:30:09 +0000

[...] [...]

By: Understanding the Basics of Graphic Design | How to PowerPoint

Understanding the Basics of Graphic Design | How to PowerPoint — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:59:31 +0000

[...] 5 Common Visual Design Mistakes: Things to avoid when build out the slides. [...]

By: tom

tom — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:33:00 +0000

@Jim: I had someone draw it. There are sites that will create vector images or avatars for you. I just ran across this one today.

By: Jim Bost

Jim Bost — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:18:22 +0000

Hi Tom.

Great site!

Just wondering about your cartoon graphic of yourself & how you did it?

Cheers,

Jim

By: Julie Biddle

Julie Biddle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:05:46 +0000

I teach computer skills as a volunteer and I talk about fonts when teaching Word, Excel and PowerPoint. My message is always the same:

Sans Serif fonts are simpler and you read them faster, but with more errors because there are fewer details. They are perfect for small chunks of text that you want people to read quickly and assimilate – great for ’scanners’.

Serif fonts you read a little slower, but more accurately because those extra little details help you be certain about what the letter is. The serifs help break up vertical ‘rivers’ in multiple line chunks of text and help keep your eyes on the same line.

I then ask my students in Word which type of font would be better for a heading and which for a paragraph? I ask my Excel and PowerPoint students how many paragraphs of text they’re going to use and then ask which type of font they should use.

It’s my understanding of how fonts should be best used…
j

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:28:50 +0000

In regards to the fonts and sans serif versus serif fonts like Times New Roman. Years ago when I was completing my undergrad in elementary ed I read a research study on this topic. They compared reading comprehension and speed on the same content using serif fonds and san serif fonts. For the US and the majority of European countries serif fonts had better readibility and comprehension. For a couple of European countries the sans serif fonts were higher. So the researchers set out to determine why it was different. The conclusion was that at that time the majority of print items in the US and the European countries were serif fonts. From the time individuals were learning to read and throughout their lifetime they were reading serif fonts. The countries that performed better in sans serif fonts had the majority of their printed materials in san serif fonts.

So it wasn’t a matter of one font being better than another just because of the type of font. One was better based on what you learned to read. So as more and more materials are designed for computers, and sans serif are cleaner and better on a computer, I would expect that we will see the trend that reading speed and comprehension will be better for sans serif fonts versus serif fonts.

By: v

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:17:40 +0000

How about Impact all the time? ha ho.

By: tom

tom — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:18:27 +0000

@Guilherme: Years ago when screens were a little different, reading serif fonts on the PC was a challenge. So the recommendation was san serif. In most cases that still seems to be true. However the screen resolution is much better today, so some of those rules have changed.

Personally, I’d still go with a san serif. If I did use a serif font, I’d limit how small I’d make it. The key point is that the font represents both text and personality. So people read it and they also construe meaning from the context in which it’s used. So it acts as a graphic that also conveys meaning.

By: Guilherme Bender

Guilherme Bender — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:44:20 +0000

Hey Tom,

Great post! I was only wondering about the use of serif fonts. Once I heard we should avoid their use. But you said just the opposite. So, what now?