A new numeric typeface for the elderly
This research project hopes to remedy that and conduct new typeface research. Due to time and study constraints, we will focus on Arabic numeral typefaces under the VDT operation and design an Arabic numeral typeface that increases reading speed and efficiency for the elderly.
Personal Project
Location | Tainan, Taiwan
Launch | July 2021
Tools | Adobe Illustrator
Role | Typeface Design
Conference | HCII 2021 : International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction
Typeface Research and Design
This research project has been invited to participate in HCII 2021: International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with a paper titled “Elderly-Centered Design: A New Numeric Typeface for Increased Legibility “and got Ministry of Science and Technology Taiwan 2020 College Student Research Scholarship.
Design for the elderly
In an aging society, designing for the elderly is imperative. The elderly are an oft-neglected and influential social group, as aging is an inevitable process in life. Papanek has also pointed out that designers should start to care about the otherwise neglected groups, such as the elderly, the disabled, and the third world. In other words, an in-depth study of the elderly is not only for them but also for us.
Aging Optical Problems
Rachel Bishop, a doctor at the National Institutes of Health Vision Center, pointed out that eye function usually declines after 40, accompanied by presbyopia, cataracts, retinopathy, and other related vision diseases. Reading plays an essential role in daily life. As people age, their information processing speed and efficiency in reading declines. Research has revealed that when reading text composed of very small or huge characters, the elderly's reading speeds drop to about 70% of a young adult's
Literature Review
When designing the typeface, we refer to the three human factors indicators proposed by Sanders and McCormick (1993), visibility, legibility, readability. Visibility refers to the attribute that can adequately separate text or symbols from the background. Legibility refers to the quality that can distinguish text or characters. Readability refers to the characteristics of the information content that the reader can understand or recognize.
VDT Workstation settings
An environmental illumination of 500lx is most suitable for the elderly when reading VDT. The stimulus will be displayed on an iPad Air 2020 10.9 inches with 2360 x 1640 pixels resolution. Kroemer and Grandjean (1997) suggested that the proper viewing distance for VDT should be 70cm, while Hennings and Ye (1996) found that most people prefer to be slightly more than 60 cm. By current ISO guidelines and the studies mentioned above, participants will view the monitor at a distance of approximately 70cm.
Procedure
In the first stage, the Arabic numeral sequence is arranged referring to Universal Design (UD) font analysis method. The degree of Gaussian blur (blur 10px, 12px) will be used to simulate the visual of the elderly. The study will use two way ANOVA to analyze, compare the legibility of existing typefaces. In the second stage, a new typeface will be designed based on our findings. We will refer to the pattern of typeface design company, Morisawa Inc. After digitizing the typeface, we will invite elderly participants to test its efficiency. The environmental conditions and methods are the same as those in the first stage.
Result
This research explored the problems when the elderly read existing Arabic numeral typefaces and will design an Arabic numeral typeface in response to these issues. We hope that this numerical typeface can be expanded into a complete set of English typefaces in the future with further research.
