Specifications

Crestron Programming Design Kit

Doc. 5277J | crestron.com

Appendix D: Touch Screen Typography

Typography is the arrangement, style, or general appearance of matter printed from type. To select and use the

appropriate typography, there are two primary factors that the designer should consider. Legibility (Discrimination):

This characteristic of an alphanumeric enables the observer to quickly and positively identify it from all other letters

and characters.

Legibility depends on stroke width, form of characters, illumination, and the contrast between the characters and

the background. Readability: This quality of the word or text allows for rapid recognition of a single word, word-

groups, abbreviations, and symbols.

Readability depends on the spacing of individual characters, spacing of words, spacing of lines, and the ratio

between characters area to background area.

Typeface (Fonts)

Typefaces or fonts refer to the style of the alphanumeric. There are over 2300 typefaces currently available. The two

major groups of fonts are roman and sans serif. Roman is well known since it is used in newspapers, journals, and

books. Sans serif is a contemporary font that does not include the little strokes (serifs) that project horizontally from

the top or bottom of a main stroke.

Several researchers have reported that when other typographical factors are controlled, sans-serif fonts are more

legible than roman. The premise behind this statement is that absence of serifs presents a more simple and clean

typeface, and therefore improves the legibility of the print. Serifs disrupt character discrimination and may add

uneven appearance to the shape of strokes and characters. However, it is also evident that they somewhat aid the

horizontal movement of the eye along the printed line—the serifs at the top and bottom of a character create a

“railroad track” for the eye to follow along the line of print.

Therefore, when using a typeface without serifs, adequate spacing between the lines of print is required to prevent

the eye from ridging (slipping) to the adjoining line. The designer should safeguard against this factor as it may lead

to skipping a line while reading a long list.