ARTICLE SUMMARY: You spend hours upon hours creating a website for your client. You put together a killer color palette that is second to none, you arrange elements and photos for maximum effect using the golden ratio, and then comes your typography. In the beginning readability was not really a big problem, all you had was basic computer with a basic monitor and one design size fit all screens.
Now you have monitors, iPads, iPros, smart phones and lap tops with screens of all different sizes. One size no longer fits all and as designers we can not take for granted that some how it will fit all screens the way we envision it.
When it comes to type and design nothing is more important than readability. You could spend a fortune on custom type, but, if the readability isn’t there you have just wasted your clients money and a boat load of your time. Testing is a must.
“HOW TO TEST READABILITY” by Malgorzata Piernik is a comprehensive look at why designers need to take readability more seriously than they do. First she explains
- Exactly what readability is
- Who benefits from readability tests
- The main reason for running those tests
- What influences readability of text
After these she goes into
- Preparing your design for testing
- Defining success metics
- The method
There is a lot more to the above list to help us in our quest for readability. We owe it to our clients to give them the best product possible, this is another tool to add to the toolbox to help us achieve that goal.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
