Most designs include text and, therefore, all text should be designed. If you haven’t thought about it much before, realize it now: every font, every capital letter, every point size, every line length you insert into a document is a design choice. As an information architect, it’s your responsibility to enhance your text in ways that will help people use the information better. Designing text should be adjusted based on your audience and their needs. Consider seven things psychologist Susan Weinschenk notes to consider when writing (and designing) for how people read:
People Skim and Scan Online; They Don’t Really Read
Susan Weinschenk defined “reading” to be a specific activity separate from skimming and scanning. Reading, she says, requires sitting with little movement, not being distracted by the environment or objects on a page, acting only to turn to the next page, and maintaining this behavior for at least five minutes. Based on that definition, what people do online is usually not reading. For online text, design knowing that people are reading very little, they’re skipping big parts, they’re looking at pictures and ads, and they’re not interpreting or analyzing the information.
People Read Faster with Lowercase Letters but All Caps Can Work
The brain is technically able to process capital letters just as quickly as lowercase letters, but people are more used to reading lowercase letters. People will generally read text faster if it’s written in mostly lowercase. When it makes sense for a design and reading speed doesn’t matter, capital letters can work, but note that all caps can be perceived as yelling and should be used with caution.
People Prefer Shorter Line Lengths but Read Faster with Longer
Line lengths refer to the length of text on a single line in a column or page. Research has shown that while people actually do read faster if text is written longer across a page, most people prefer to read text with a shorter line length, broken into columns or having wider margins. If reading speed matters, design with longer line lengths. In most cases, though, note that people prefer shorter and user preference may impact engagement.
People Respond Better to Verbs when Nouns Are Included
If you need people to take action, research has shown that basic verb phrases like “join now” or “donate today” are less effective at spurring people to action than if you include the users as a part of a noun phrase like “be a donor today” or “become a member.” If you’re trying to get more people to act, consider including noun phrases.
Contrast and Size Matter More on Screens than on Paper
Computer pages (which emit light and refresh constantly) and book pages (which reflect light and remain stable) affect our eyes differently. Because of the nature of text on paper, you can get away with more creative uses of colors, backgrounds, fonts, and sizes. On a computer screen, however, it’s usually best to stick to white backgrounds, black text, and larger fonts.
Complex Information Should Be Designed with Disfluency in Mind
Interestingly, research has shown that people will learn and retain complex information if it is written in a way that appears disfluent, or difficult to understand. If you are presenting your audience with information that you need them to study closely, they are more likely to learn and retain the information if you give it to them in a slightly-more-difficult-to-read font and size than you would if you just want them to read for pleasure or leisure.
People Only Read 60% of an Online Article
According to reseach conducted by Chartbeat, most web users who pull up an online article, will scroll to view about 60% of the page. This means nearly half of what you write likely won’t be read on any given article; if you have something important to say, write it first.