Can fonts give people a trust?

This article is a translator: sail

Reviewers: Zeng Yue

Translation from:AIGA Eye on design

Links:JF Micro Magazine produced

Liz Stinson was drawn on May 21, 2015

In 2012, Errol Morris dominated a controversial experiment: is there a type of font that would allow people to change the information they received? In turn, is it possible to influence the authenticity of a given statement by changing the font shape?

More importantly, the writer and director wants to confirm: is it possible to experiment to verify this possibility?

Morris, a longtime writer of the New York Times, came together to explore. Morris changed his mind and packaged the experiment into a irrelevant quiz-"Are you an optimist or a pessimist?" ”。 Of course, this test has nothing to do with whether you're an optimist or a pessimist, but Morris wants to see how people react to articles presented in six different fonts.

Test content

The fonts that the reader encounters may be baskerville,georgia,computer modern, or one of the helvetica,comic Sans,trebuchet-three serif fonts and three sans-serif fonts. Morris assumes that doing so can result in some of the reactions of people.

Now, Morris admits that this is not exactly the right science experiment, but it's obvious that it doesn't matter. Because the survey still looks fascinating-it points out that people are more likely to believe in articles that use Baskerville fonts than other fonts.

Morris was inspired by his discovery and wrote "Hear all Ye people; Hearken, O Earth. " This essay was originally published in The New York Times web, but was once redesigned by Pentagram's Maik Brettes and Jessica Svensen as a pentagram (published by the Pentagram design company containing interesting, controversial, creative views) in the 44th issue.

This "Yummy" Paperback provides us with an interesting and poorly understood truth: fonts can have an impact on our moods and minds.

For typography, graphic designers, fonts are an inevitable but not the only factor that affects the myriad environmental factors that affect our perception of truth or illusion. Morris recently spoke on an interview show: "It is absurd to think that people will be driven by a font rather than another font to believe something." But I can only say that some things can interfere with people's judgments. "

There is no interference, in fact, no hindrance. The experiment does give us a very interesting question--if we can discern why we believe in Baskerville fonts in certain aspects of the font, such as the format, the center of gravity, the stated environment, is it possible to create a specific font for emotional intervention? This is part of the work of the font designer, which creates a font with some specific parameters and constraints. But the reappearance of emotional influences can be difficult to prove, which is why the Morris experiment is only a novel idea.

So what exactly makes Baskerville fonts make things look more believable?

Cornell University Professor David Dunning analysis, may be the "rigid" appearance of the Baskerville font and the solemn ritual impression makes it more credible, and these characteristics are the other test fonts missing things. Beirut then likened people's sense of font to voice to influence how people feel about speech, "to some extent, the font is the image of the human voice, just as everyone's voice has a specific tone and accent," he said: "In my impression, Baskerville is like a speech with a cool , an English accent that inspires self-confidence, like Colin Firth (Colin Firth Colin Firth, born in Hampshire, England, British actor, screenwriter, producer) on September 10, 1960. No wonder it makes people so trustworthy.

Editor's words: Foreign people's attention to detail and the pursuit of truth, is worthy of our study and reference, single from a font analysis, we are enough to extend to the profound Chinese traditional culture, and the Chinese calligraphy is countless. What kind of font is more likely to make domestic users look more confident? Besides, what are the special attributes of the fonts and sounds that make you look more trustworthy now?

Original link:AIGA Eye on design
Links:JF Micro Magazine produced
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Can fonts give people a trust?