I just spent a wonderful hour with the Cleartype team. But that’s not why I’m writing to you. On the team is Kevin Larson, who is a cognitive psychologist.
But that’s not why I’m writing to you either. After I shut off my camera we started talking about some of the research he’s doing. He (and other researchers in the field) have found something very interesting: that being in a happy mood makes people better problem solvers.
It’s interesting. Earlier today I was talking with someone about conference planning. I told them my experiences with conferences. What was the most important thing? Making the first hour absolutely entertaining.
Now this all makes sense. An audience that’s thrilled can learn faster and can solve problems better.
I wonder if this same research could be applied to Web site usage? If you are happier are you more likely to click on ads? If you’re happier, are you more likely to read a long article or watch a long video?
Ever think that Google’s secret weapon isn’t their search engine, or Google Base, but rather Dennis Hwang? He’s the artist that draws the fun things around the logo.
I wonder, does making people smile make them better searchers?
Hey, Bill Gates, wanna make a billion dollars on services? Sounds like the research is telling you to hire this guy: DeepFun.com.
Seriously now, back to Kevin. This guy is a serious researcher. He sticks people inside an MRI machine and asks them to read two pages of text. One with fonts that are ugly and poorly designed. One with beautifully designed fonts and aesthetically laid out.
He says they can’t see much difference in reading speed, but there’s a massive difference in the part of the brain used on each kind of page. Also, they measure the various facial muscles used when reading text. Turns out people frown more when reading the poorly-laid-out text.
Oh, and they are doing a bunch of eye track research on fonts too. Turns out that ClearType increases reading speed and comprehension by about seven percent when compared to a machine that has ClearType turned off. More when I get the videos up next month.
Kevin hopes to get the paper published, so we haven’t posted it on the MS typography site yet. Here’s a write up of Kevin’s presentation on this at the ATypI conference in Helsinki earlier this year – http://www.atypi.org/news_tool/news_html?from=http://www.atypi.org/07_Helsinki/10_news/index_html&newsid=317 – unsurprisingly the typographers and information designers loved it – if someone can actually “prove” good design = happier, more productive workers then this is very useful to the community as they sell design services to potential clients.
As for the other comments #10 sums it up nicely – all type designers can do is make great type and provide it to users – how it’s used is up to them – good typography can’t be dictated. With ClearType, the ClearType Collection fonts, the earlier Web fonts, OpenType and XAML., we provide a framework for world-class industry-leading typography – what developers and users do with it is really up to them. But I can suggest some good books on typography if you’re interested.
With respect to Apple, their ClearType-like engine seems to have improved with every release, but in my opinion it doesn’t match the current WPF implementation. As for their other products from what I’ve seen the “Myriad” UI font implemented in the color iPods (especially the Nano) is not rendered well.
ClearType on CRT’s – technically no one can explain why it should be better than other forms of smart anti-aliasing, but in taste-tests it scores better. So if people like it on CRT’s they should be allowed to use it.
Kevin hopes to get the paper published, so we haven’t posted it on the MS typography site yet. Here’s a write up of Kevin’s presentation on this at the ATypI conference in Helsinki earlier this year – http://www.atypi.org/news_tool/news_html?from=http://www.atypi.org/07_Helsinki/10_news/index_html&newsid=317 – unsurprisingly the typographers and information designers loved it – if someone can actually “prove” good design = happier, more productive workers then this is very useful to the community as they sell design services to potential clients.
As for the other comments #10 sums it up nicely – all type designers can do is make great type and provide it to users – how it’s used is up to them – good typography can’t be dictated. With ClearType, the ClearType Collection fonts, the earlier Web fonts, OpenType and XAML., we provide a framework for world-class industry-leading typography – what developers and users do with it is really up to them. But I can suggest some good books on typography if you’re interested.
With respect to Apple, their ClearType-like engine seems to have improved with every release, but in my opinion it doesn’t match the current WPF implementation. As for their other products from what I’ve seen the “Myriad” UI font implemented in the color iPods (especially the Nano) is not rendered well.
ClearType on CRT’s – technically no one can explain why it should be better than other forms of smart anti-aliasing, but in taste-tests it scores better. So if people like it on CRT’s they should be allowed to use it.
The mood and aesthetics research hasn’t been published yet. It’s currently going through the submissions process, so hopefully it will be out by next summer. At that time I’ll be able to reprint it on the web.
A lot of the ClearType research has already been published in peer reviewed journals. Our team just recently started a blog where I’ll give summaries of the research as well as point to the full references.
http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/
The mood and aesthetics research hasn’t been published yet. It’s currently going through the submissions process, so hopefully it will be out by next summer. At that time I’ll be able to reprint it on the web.
A lot of the ClearType research has already been published in peer reviewed journals. Our team just recently started a blog where I’ll give summaries of the research as well as point to the full references.
http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/
The mood and aesthetics research hasn’t been published yet. It’s currently going through the submissions process, so hopefully it will be out by next summer. At that time I’ll be able to reprint it on the web.
A lot of the ClearType research has already been published in peer reviewed journals. Our team just recently started a blog where I’ll give summaries of the research as well as point to the full references.
http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/
Cognitive Approach to Font Design
The use of cognitive science on the design of Microsoft fonts is intriguingly mentioned by Scobleizer in his post on a visit to MS’s Cleartype team (and supports my post on the application of cognitive science to product RD). When
I need help. My friend Raymond Lauria (www.spellingdoctor.com), who is a reading expert who made early use of Donald Hebb’s Organizaion of Behavior to help him understand reading is very interesting in communication with Kevin Larson. I sent him a link to Kevin’s excellent article on Word Recognition. Would be so kind as to have him contact me, or send me his e-mail so I can give it to Mr. Laurita.
Sincerely,
Don Potter, Odessa, TX. http://www.donpotter.net
I need help. My friend Raymond Lauria (www.spellingdoctor.com), who is a reading expert who made early use of Donald Hebb’s Organizaion of Behavior to help him understand reading is very interesting in communication with Kevin Larson. I sent him a link to Kevin’s excellent article on Word Recognition. Would be so kind as to have him contact me, or send me his e-mail so I can give it to Mr. Laurita.
Sincerely,
Don Potter, Odessa, TX. http://www.donpotter.net
I need help. My friend Raymond Lauria (www.spellingdoctor.com), who is a reading expert who made early use of Donald Hebb’s Organizaion of Behavior to help him understand reading is very interesting in communication with Kevin Larson. I sent him a link to Kevin’s excellent article on Word Recognition. Would be so kind as to have him contact me, or send me his e-mail so I can give it to Mr. Laurita.
Sincerely,
Don Potter, Odessa, TX. http://www.donpotter.net