The Effect of Typeface on the Perception of Onscreen Documents

• Published in: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 2007, Vol.51 (5), p.464-468
• Main Authors: Fox, Doug, Shaikh, A. Dawn, Chaparro, Barbara S.
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1541-9312; 1071-1813; 2169-5067
• DOI: 10.1177/154193120705100508

This study investigated the effect that typeface has on a reader's perception of three different types of onscreen documents (business, email, and youth narrative stories). Participants read documents displayed in either a congruent, neutral, or incongruent typeface. Results suggest that the less congruent the typeface, the more the document was perceived in a negative fashion. That is, the typeface itself affected the perceived personality of the document and the perception of the author; thus, typeface appropriateness should be considered when writing an onscreen document.