Performance Differences Between Times and Helvetica in a Reading Task

Typographersand printers often regard seriffed or roman typefaces as more legible and appropriate for reading material than typefaces without serifs. Authors contend that readers prefer roman above sans serif, that it is read faster, and that the comprehension rate is possibly higher when text is set in a roman typeface. The absence of satisfactory empirical data to prove these assumptions, and the importance of legibility in academic reading material, motivated this study. The aim of the study was to determine the comparative legibility of sans serif and roman typefaces. Four hundred and fifty primary school subjects from nine different schools were used in a control group pre-test, post-test research design where four different experiments were completed. Romans and sans serifs were found to be equally legible, as no significant statistical difference was found between the reading speed, scanning speed, accuracy and comprehension at the 0.05 level. These results are in contrast to the assumption that romans are more legible than sans serifs. They can be interpreted as promising for graphic designers and typographers, as it appears that legibility will not necessarily be sacrificed when certain reading material is set in a sans serif typeface.