Improving the Learning Environment

Using Fonts: Facts About Fonts

Serif fonts and italics are more difficult to read. Contrast between the font color and background needs to be strong. Bright colors should be minimized as they can cause glare. Reserve all caps for headings.

USING FONTS—LESSIS MORE

I like to use no more than 2 good fonts on any design piece. I choose fonts with different features that have variety within the font.With CSS we have more freedom to choose fonts. However, we are still limited by what fonts people have on their computers. The most common browser fonts are Franklin Gothic Medium, Arial, Palatino, Courier, Helvetica, Verdana, Lucida Console, Tahoma, Georgia and Trebuchet. Monospaced fonts have a fixed width for each letter and are easy to align but not the best for reading. They are used in coding.

ON A COMPUTER MONITOR, SERIF TYPE AND ITALICS BECOME SLIGHTLY DISTORTED WHEN RENDERED IN PIXELS.

Design Concepts, Principles
and Elements

Contrast Movement Unity Color

Symmetry Proximity Alignment Typography

Repetition Proportion Shapes Texture

Focal Point Rhythm Direction Line

Some tips on using fonts: Using all Caps in a layout makes it hard to read. The uniformity in the height forces the eye to work harder to decode the word. Do this for emphasis occasionally. Fonts with a higher x-height are harder to read. Use Italics sparingly—they are harder to read. Leading is the space between lines of type...use it to group your elements. Try to use at least 12 point type (this varies with styles and boldness).

A few tips for students with learning differences:An off white background is recommended to avoid glare.12 point type is the minimum recommended font size for users with dyslexia. The textbox width should be about 70 to 80 characters wide. •Do not justify all lines so the edges are even. This creates “rivers” of white in the text which is distracting and even makes the type move for some people. This information comes from an informative website called Designing for Dyslexia. Designing this way is helpful to ALL learners.

USING DESIGN TO IMPROVE FLOW

Often navy blue, burgundy, gray, and brown are considered more conservative. Yellows, golds, oranges and reds are warm and bright and often cheerful to look at. Greens and blues have been used to represent natural themes and have a refreshing feeling to them...like water and green fields. Golds and metalic colors are luxurious

A few design tips:

An off white background is recommended to avoid glare.

The textbox width should be about 60 to 70 characters wide.

Do not justify all lines so the edges are even. This creates “rivers” of white in the text which is distracting and even makes the type move for some people.

Using all Caps in a layout makes it hard to read. The uniformity in the height forces the eye to work harder to decode the word. Do this for emphasis occasionally.