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New Study: Font Size Matters—Emotion and Attention in Cortical Responses to Written Words
Posted by Dan Gayle in
10 May 2012 — 10:50am
10 May 2012 — 10:50am
This whole study is way beyond my brain power to comprehend, but the Seattle Times wrote about it on their blog, and it looks like the sort of thing we here would like to think we understand :)
Font Size Matters—Emotion and Attention in Cortical Responses to Written Words
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10 May 2012 — 10:51am
Basically, bigger fonts create a bigger emotional response that can be measured by scanning someone's brain.
10 May 2012 — 11:04am
So they were right, after all: MAKE THE LOGO BIGGER!
10 May 2012 — 11:34am
That might be related to the fact that the brain is hardwired to react to something getting bigger (i.e. closer). So if you really want to leave a strong impression take a logo of any size and smack it on their face.
hhp
10 May 2012 — 2:01pm
“The power of large font size to enhance emotion effects may, for instance, be one reason why headlines written in big letters are popular and evidently successful in the yellow press media.”
Or vice versa.
That’s how art directors, graphic designers and typographers invest display type with “aesthetic” tonality or para-textual meaning, and consequently how it’s read. One is accustomed to respond to a title or headline with a value judgement (emotionally-driven), namely, whether one should continue with the document and dive into the body text.
This isn’t a “yellow press” phenomenon, but deeply embedded in the culture:
10 May 2012 — 2:57pm
This isn’t a “yellow press” phenomenon
Well, it is in contrast to typical broadsheet typography. GOTCHA!
10 May 2012 — 4:26pm
what is it with scientists and Arial anyhow?