Cna Yuo Raed Tihs?
Most plepoe can.
And most people can read this:
Gevin teh wya we raed, the oerdr of the ltteres in wrods dseno’t mtaetr. Waht’s iproamtnt is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it. Tihs is bcuseae poeple don’t raed each leettr invidiudally, but eahc wrod as a wlohe.
And you tghuhot corerct slpeling was so ipmorantt!
Now, if you work in the marketing department of a large law firm, and you’re responsible for the design or production of your firm’s client alerts and newsletters, you might find this exercise instructive:
Make a copy of the garbled text (above). Then, set it alone on a page. Set it in 14-pt type, and a column 6 inches wide (there should be 6 to 8 lines of copy).
On one page, set it all upper-case; on another, set it all lower-case; on another, set it mixed-case in Times-Roman; and on another, set it mixed-case in Arial.
Then, do a survey. Stop coworkers in the hallway and ask them to read one version or another.
Do they prefer to read garbled copy in the serif face, or the sans-serif face?
____________
There’s a good reason why professional publishing companies almost always set body copy in a serif face, rather than a sans-serif face and that’s because it’s easier to read.
(Go to your local bookstore and browse through some magazines and books published by the pros; you won’t find much body copy set in a sans-serif face.)
Now, take a look at your firm’s client alerts and newsletters and ask yourself this: why in the world are youy setting body copy in a sans-serif face? The pros don’t do it, so why should you?
When you find the answer, please let me know (by commenting below).
