Thursday, February 25, 2021

A typeface that helps you remember what you type

Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a typeface that they say is "scientifically proven" to help you remember what you type

Or, more specifically, what you read. Sans Forgetica (ho, ho, ho!) is a reasonably notrmal sans-serif typeface with some chunks strategically snipped out of the letters. This makes it harder to read than most typefaces (but not TOO hard to read) which, psychologists say, means that you have to work harder at reading it, thus helping you retain the content better.

Of course, writing by hand also works...

P.S. I have used the word "typeface" here advisedly, because I believe it is more correct than "font" (even though "font" is the word used by RMIT and most font download sites).  According to Wikipedia (and who am I to argue?), Caslon is a typeface, while 8-point Caslon Italic is a font, i.e. a font is a specific size, weight and stylistic variant of a font family or typeface.

No comments: