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The Basics of Legibility: A Short Guide for Non-Typographers
Nuberodesign: Agentur für Grafikdesign, Animation, Videoproduktion und Usability in Winterthur
It’s true: I didn’t explain why Apple’s “San Francisco” typeface is not the ideal candidate for a user interface or why “FF Unit”, which I suggested as a possible replacement, would have been the better choice. This was done on purpose, of course: Typefaces like FF Unit were designed with legibility in mind, and one of the things a type designer does in that case, is ensuring that visually similar letters have shapes that make them more distinct from one another. Thanks to Erik Spiekermann for reading a draft of this and for pointing me to a quote by Paul Renner which I didn’t know: “Der Gebrauchszweck, dem die Schrift ihr Dasein verdankt, ist nicht geschrieben, sondern gelesen zu werden.” This roughly translates to “The purpose to which the written word owes its existence is not to be written, but to be read.” Of course, Spiekermann himself once said “Wenn man es nicht lesen kann, ist es scheisse” which means “If it can’t be read, it’s shit.” I agree with both of them.
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