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After an intensive study of letterforms which included both serif and
sans serif, done in the 1970's, Adrian Frutiger concluded: “the foundations of legibility
are like a crystallization, formed by hundreds of years of use of selected, distinctive
typefaces. The usable forms that have stood the test of time are perhaps permanently
accepted by human-kind as standards conforming to aesthetic laws ...where there are
excessive innovations of form of designs of poor quality, the typeface encounters a
certain resistance in the reader and the reading process is hindered”.27 |
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Some of the most recent thoughts in the debate on typographic legibility
are by two of the leading typographers in the digital medium. Typographer Matthew Carter
sees the difficulty of defining legibility/readability this way, “It's difficult to
measure readability. Legibility can be measured because successive degradations
demonstrate how letterforms hold up. But readability is difficult to measure. People
read and comprehend best those typefaces which they are most familiar. There is a
congeniality factor where type is concerned”28 |
