Re: The old Sans vs Serif chestnut

Matt -

I have been a designer for over 35 years and this question always comes
up. For me the answer lies in the font chosen and its usage. There are
some very readable serif fonts, but there are some that have very thin
serifs and are hard to read and fall apart when reversed out of a
background. The same holds true for sans serif. A lot of people hold to
the theory of serif being more readable. Here is a case to disprove
that. I do a lot of financial document design. Most of the work is in
the area of variable data statements. We have found that serif fonts
tend to be harder to read when looking at a lot of numbers, so most of
my work is done with sans serif fonts usually, but not always,
Helvetica/Arial.

So the bottom line for me is: which font are you choosing, what point
sizes and where is it being used (web, brochures, statements, etc). It
all needs to be considered.

Robert 
Fellow of the Communication Research Institute
http://www.communication.org.au

visit my information design blog:
http://informationdesigndoc.blogspot.com/


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-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Matt Carey
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 10:54 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The old Sans vs Serif chestnut


Hi All

Interesting that there has been a discussion on the list about research
recently as the old Sans v Serif argument has reared its head for me
with a client. 

We are working on a rebrand of a clients identity and as part of that
work we are specifying the typeface for all document formats, website,
Office templates etc. We are specifying a serif throughout and this is
causing some arguments from people within the client's organisation. 

These arguments are stemming from a report they produced as guidance for
other charity organisations. I quote the latest from the client below:

"In choosing the serif font, we need to be aware that people with visual
and/or learning difficulties may experience difficulties/complain.  Our
Special Initiative highlighted the need to avoid serif font:  the
preferred font for accessibility in the disability sector is sans
serif."

A while ago I asked about the research behind their report. I was told
they 'just asked people their views'! There was no statistical analysis
at all. They are basing their decision making on this report, and not
our skills as designers to offer the best advice.

This is proving to be a bit of an issue so...

What would people say is the de-facto research that I can wave at them?
My understanding has always been that there is not a definitive answer
either way and it depends on context (screen vs print, size etc etc).

Tanks
Matt


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