Output details

Characterizing typographic expertise: do we process typefaces like faces?

This paper describes original empirical work carried out by the first author; the second author was a Research Assistant on an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme placement. This research adopts an innovative approach by applying psychological theory to typography to inform the direction of research which aims to understand how we process letterforms. A significant body of literature exists on face recognition and discrimination; the research draws on these findings to propose that typefaces may be perceived in a similar manner to faces by experts with typographic training. The study confirms this parallel and proposes how designers' perceptual abilities may develop through training. Elucidating how we process typefaces is important for design education, design practice, and design theory and also strengthens the case for inter-disciplinary studies.