Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 11, 2025

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
Published on: November 2, 2012
Applying cognitive and perceptual science to typeface choices
1Centre for Visibility Design, Royal Danish Academy - Architecture, Design, Conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract:
A general focus within reading research is to isolate individual cognitive and perceptual processes for investigation. By doing so, we gradually increase our understanding of the components that collectively enable humans to read. The aim of this article is to create an overview of some of these findings that could inform the selection of typefaces. We discuss aspects of letter crowding, serifs, inter-letter spacing and letter weight and width, reviewing the literature on reading and perception and contextualising it in relation to reading scenarios involving paragraph reading, small visual angles and glance reading. Although several perceptual aspects can relate to multiple reading scenarios, we conclude that there is no such thing as the most legible typeface, as typeface legibility varies depending on the reading situation.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Cognitivism
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process...
Language and Cognition
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Subliminal Perception

