Coda: Lessons Learned Article Swipe

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Typeface Legibility Reading (process) Typography Ostensive definition Linguistics Computer science Aesthetics Visual arts Art Philosophy

John T. E. Richardson ·

YOU? · · 2022 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90984-0_16 · OA: W4293192232

This end-piece considers lessons that can be learned from this review. Some researchers have put forward reasons why serifs might render typefaces more legible. Others have suggested that the presence or absence of serifs is a proxy for some other property of typefaces. In fact, there seems to be no difference in the legibility of serif typefaces and sans serif typefaces either when reading from paper or when reading from screens. The most important lesson is that assertions to the effect that “everybody knows” that such-and-such” should be regarded simply as conjectures that might be subject to refutation through carefully designed research.