link2age

http://www.kidstype.org

Her current strand of research is based on “Typeographic Design For Children”, so i am currently obtaining information from her regrading her research, even though it is for more paper/book based materials.

The efforts of new readers can be supported by making sure their texts use inviting, easy-to-read typefaces, set in the most readable way.

Text legibility
When selecting a typeface for a children’s text, look for a warm, friendly design with simple, generous letter shapes. The counters (the enclosed shapes within characters) should be rounded and open, not angular or rectangular. Avoid non-traditional letterforms. A good example of a typeface with these attributes is Sassoon Primary, designed specifically for children.

Typefaces with larger x-heights are generally easier to read than those with short x-heights, and this is especially true for children. For very young readers, select designs with one-story ‘a’s and ‘g’s (also called infant characters), since these are the lowercase shapes preschool and school-age children learn to write. Save the two-story versions for more experienced readers.

Either sans or serif designs can be used as long as they avoid any extremes that could impair readability. For example:

• Don’t use condensed or expanded typefaces, which make character recognition more difficult.

• Select a book or medium weight; stay away from hairline or very bold weights.

• If you plan to use italics, make sure they too are easy-to-read, and not overly condensed or stylized.

Both the serifed Bembo Schoolbook and Plantin Schoolbook, as well as Gill Schoolbook, a sans serif style, have been designed for children and exemplify the principles above.

Sassoon Primary, Gill Sans Schoolbook, Bembo Schoolbook and Plantin Schoolbook are all good choices for young readers.

Making the text readable
New readers have to learn to follow words from left to right and “jump” their eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. To make this easier, set the text large (14 to 24 point depending on the typeface and age of the reader) and with very generous leading (4 to 6 points).

Keep line lengths short, and don’t put too much text on a page. Dense blocks of type can be very intimidating to young readers. Avoid all cap settings, which are difficult for readers of any age!

Make sure there is ample contrast between the type and the background. This is especially true when setting light type against a dark background, as is common in heavily illustrated children’s books. When setting more than one paragraph on a page, consider using line-spaces instead of indents to separate paragraphs. This gives the text and the reader a visual break.

Headlines and Titles
Headline or title type gives you the opportunity to be more playful in style, color and layout, since there are fewer words to read. Decorated typestyles, lots of color, and curved and jumping baselines can all be used to attract and entertain the young reader. Keeping it light and fun is the key to keeping a young reader interested and turning pages.Making the text readable
New readers have to learn to follow words from left to right and “jump” their eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. To make this easier, set the text large (14 to 24 point depending on the typeface and age of the reader) and with very generous leading (4 to 6 points).

Keep line lengths short, and don’t put too much text on a page. Dense blocks of type can be very intimidating to young readers. Avoid all cap settings, which are difficult for readers of any age!

Make sure there is ample contrast between the type and the background. This is especially true when setting light type against a dark background, as is common in heavily illustrated children’s books. When setting more than one paragraph on a page, consider using line-spaces instead of indents to separate paragraphs. This gives the text and the reader a visual break.

Taken from Monotype, Extract from article by by Ilene Strizver

http://www.culturalbloc.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/dsc03277web.jpg

“Perception of color depends not only on the ability to see that color, but also on the interpretive context of emotional and cultural realities. Blue is the most globally accessible and safe color, perhaps because of its relationship to the sky and therefore, to deities. For some colors, cultural significance makes them more risky. For example, while pink is popular with both sexes in Japan, in East Indian and American cultures, pink signifies femininity. Purple and red are also colors with significant cultural meaning differences. Another important issue is that men and women’s reactions to color differ significantly.”
Hotzschlag, Molly. (2000). Color my World

In summarizing some early tests of color preferences conducted since the early 20th century in regard to gender preference, early research on children found little difference in the preferences of boys and girls. Tests conducted by S.J. Warner in the 1940’s showed that females preferred pastel colors, pale and subdued mid-tones, and warm rather than cool and deep shades. Males in the survey preferred brilliant hue tints, light full colors, and cool rather than warm and greyed shades.

Micro Academy. (1998). Color Preference.

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The word document is more paractical, saying for instance the feasability of new implementation such as signs, stating that they should be hard wearing, easily cleanable etc.

A more full breakdown will follow shortly.

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The ICI Design Guide for the use of colour and contrast (ICI, 1997) gives detailed information about the way people use colour, and gives tables for both monochrome and contrasting colour schemes which are based on their Dulux range. What the eye sees as colour is a combination of the proportions of hue, light reflectance value, and chroma or depth of pigment. It is therefore possible to have good contrast between different shades and depth of the same colour.

I am currently trying to obtain a copy of this;

Bright, K.T., et. al., 2000. in Colour and Contrast – A design guide for the use of colour and contrast to improve built environments for visually impaired people, – ICI Paints (CD Format).

http://www.bmag.org.uk/index.php?eventid=202&maincat=3&subcat=0&subelement=0&type=event

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The units called “REACT” were produced by the RNIB (royal national institute for the blind). I decided to obtain a unit for a £5 deposit to see just how effective it worked. The unit, a small black box with headphones attatched was easily able to fit into my pocket. I strolled around the city centre with this unit and after about ten minutes a rather startling voice anounced “This is unit 27 in Victoria Square at the top of Pinfold Street by the post office. Down the slope to your left is New Street and city centre shopping. Going up the slope to your right is the approach to the Town hall, council house and the central library”.

I then noticed that the signal had been transmitted from the lampost. With 57 over the city centre I believe this is a good wayfinding system but it still felt quite prototypical and underdeveloped. Is this the future, recieving bluetooth messages on locations and destinations?

Their system was rooted in the concept of each sign taking the form of a map oriented towards the driver. Concluding that a combination of upper and lower case letters would be more legible than conventional upper case lettering, they developed a new typeface, a refinement of Aksidenz Grotesk, for use in the signs. Later named Transport, it is recognizably modern as a sans serif font, but it is softer and curvier than the blunt modernist lettering used on continental European road signs. Kinneir and Calvert felt that these qualities would make it seem friendlier and more appealing to British drivers.

Each letter within a sign was placed on a letter tile to determine the correct spacing – based on the width of the horizontal strokes in the Transport version of the capital letter I – between it and other letters. By treating each letter as a separate unit, the overall size of a sign was determined by the amount of information conveyed. The width of the capital I stroke was also used to specify the size of borders and the spaces between lines of text.

They tested the signs in an underground car park and mews on the Knightsbridge side of Hyde Park and then in the park itself, where the signs were propped up against trees to determine suitable background colours and reading distances. The official tests took place in 1958 on the new motorway-standard road – the Preston by-pass in Lancashire – and the system was approved. Despite the complaints of a handful of conservative commentators that the signs were too big and abrasive, they were deemed a success.

A truley sucessful wayfinding/typographic project. They ransformed the prehistoric (very English) signs into something more ledgible and less confusing.

I plan to update this font soon for more modernistic applications.

gillsanaposter.pdf

Never have i laughed out load to witty metaphors on sex, drugs and general nastiness. This however isn’t the sole purpose of the book. Ivine has written this with all the trainspotting crew in mind but 10 years on down the line. What else could bring them together other than a cheap low budget porno movie directed by Sick boy. Begbies still as crazy as ever and boy has he got some anger against some of his former friends. a must read

“Every now and then you’ll see a tattered piece of 1950s signage, something exuberant that harks back to flash bulbs and frozen glamour. Most have been torn down now, replaced by brutal information boards stamped out in Helvetica, the official typeface of purgatory. Helvetica isn’t designed to make you feel anything good, to promise adventure or gladden the heart. Helvetica is for telling you that profits are down, that the photocopier needs servicing, and by the way, you’ve been fired.”