Sydney Labat, Senior, Biology Pre-Med

Intro to Graphic Design and Advertising, ART2020

Dr. Shayna T. Blum
Assignment: Reading and Summary
Josephson, Sheree. “Keeping Your Readers' Eyes on the Screen.” Visual Communication
Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 1, June 2008, pp. 67–79.
This article discussed the background information and challenges faced when dealing
with typography for use on a screen versus in print. It began with a discussion of the issue of low
resolutions on screens, which then causes lettering to be pixelated and not appear as smooth as
typography should be. This challenge was then overcome, according to the article, by creating
fonts specifically for screen use, such as the commonly known fonts Veranda and Georgia. The
article then describes the process by which the human eye reads and processes typography when
it is presented on screen. This process involves the fixation of the eye on a particular area and the
rapid movement of the eye to another part of the screen, instead of continuously scanning a line.
This fixation lasts only milliseconds, and words like “the” and “and” are often skipped. After a
description of this process and how it is measured, the article goes into presenting research
questions created by the author that guided the experimentation process discussed in the
remainder of the article. The experiment carried out was unique because it was the first
experiment to track eye-fixation differences across serif and san-serif fonts. This questioned
legibility of screen typography, and the results of the experiment included both this and
preferences of the reader as to what font was easiest to read and at what size was it most legible.
I chose to read this article because I was raised in the age of technology and I can
remember the progression from more rigid screen typography to the smoother and more legible
screen fonts that are often used today. I was interested in learning more about what changes have
been made in the world of typography to enhance the screen font experience, and I felt as if this
article would allow me to learn more in this area. A topic that stood out to me in this article was
the description of the eye movements when reading text on screen. I thought that as we read, we
continuously scan the line and put together each individual letter to ultimately create words and
sentences. Contrary to my belief, the fixation process described in the article states that we only
fixate our eyes on certain portions of the screen while skipping others. After reading this article I
would question whether or not the same fixation process occurs when one is actively typing for a
screen. I would also question what the next steps would be for the results of the experiment. How
will the authors use the results of the experiment to improve screen typography and what are the
future implications?
This subject relates to my own work because in this course we will be working closely
with computers, and our projects will often incorporate the use of typography. Legibility and use
of readable fonts are important aspects that should be considered when working on the projects
we will be assigned in the course, and the article discussed these topics in detail. The information
presented in the article about how this particular experiment compared serifs versus san-serifs
and the legibility of certain fonts at certain sizes is useful, and I will consider it when working on
future projects. The article did meet my expectations on learning more behind the history of the
progression of screen type, and my curiosity was intrigued in a way I was not expecting. The
description of the experiment was interesting, and I had not previously thought about
experimentation in the field of typography on screen.