The Legibility Manifesto

Thomas Phinney, Product Manager, Fonts & Global Typography, Adobe Systems

It's easy to focus on aesthetics, but a design can look great yet fail to be sufficiently legible under real world conditions. Taking just a couple of aspects of legibility, Adobe's Thomas Phinney shows how in graphic design from web sites to children's books, designers need to be educated on legibility issues in typography. The first problem is foreground/background contrast. Does the text stand out enough from its background? The second problem is selection of typeface: is it legible enough for the intended usage? What about the so-called "infant" or "schoolbook" letterforms for children? In some cases the popular design wisdom may be dubious at best.

Watch the video of this presentation here: http://www.socialstudiesconference.org/node/238