Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 2005

How to Use Five Letterforms to Gauge a Typeface's Personality: A Research-Driven Method

Jo MacKiewicz

Abstract

Technical communicators need to select typefaces that match the tone that they intend for a document. Rather than relying on intuition or personal preference, technical communicators can use a research-driven approach to analyze objectively the extent to which a typeface's personality meshes with the intended tone of a document. This study describes how technical communicators can analyze a typeface's uppercase J and its lowercase a, g, e, and n letterforms—letterforms that are dense with anatomical information—to gauge the extent to which a typeface will contribute a friendly or a professional personality to a document. Technical communicators—both professionals and students—who are armed with this knowledge can move beyond “safe” typefaces like Times New Roman and Helvetica, selecting instead typefaces whose anatomical features generate different kinds of personalities.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2005-07-01
DOI
10.2190/lqvl-ej9y-1lrx-7c95
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Zhang (2016)
    Illustrating Beauty and Utility: Visual Rhetoric in Two Medical Texts Written i…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Willerton et al. (2011)
    Evaluating Applications for an Informal Approach to Information Design: Readers…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Schaefer (2010)
    Response-to-Complaint Letter as a Rhetorical Genre
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. MacKiewicz (2008)
    Comparing Powerpoint Experts' and University Students' Opinions about Powerpoin…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 33 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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