(paper written by Laurie Moses)
Abstract
One hundred forty-three college students and 39 community members participated in the present study to examine the effects of text color, background color, and font style on the readability and appeal of a brochure for new Nacogdoches residents. The purpose of the research was to provide city officials with a summary recommendation for the most effective text and background color combination and font style. The study was divided into two portions with the 14 researchers themselves completing both the objective computer portion and the subjective survey portion. All other participants completed only the survey part of the research. Researchers hypothesized that using a light-colored paper with a dark-colored font would produce optimal readability and that the use of a serif font would make the twelve-point font style most readable. Results of the experiment supported the hypothesis that the serif font styles were significantly more readable than the san serif styles. No other main effects or interactions were significant. Results of the brochure survey indicated that the college participants liked the yellow background with a Charcoal/Geneva font combination for the headings and text best while non-college participants liked the same font combination on a blue background best. Survey results also indicated that participants preferred colored text over black.
Background
The process of designing an appropriate brochure involves the consideration of several factors that, when used properly, can effectively present important information to a target audience. Designers and distributors of brochures have employed numerous methods to make their brochure design stand out among similar pamphlets and also to convey the most important facts in a reader-friendly manner. Among these methods are the use of certain types of font, text color, and background color. When these factors are manipulated in the appropriate way, they can create an attractive brochure that facilitates the readers' understanding of the material. When used improperly, however, certain combinations of these factors can make the pamphlet difficult to read and unattractive.
Since different combinations of color, text style, and brochure layout can create drastically different images of the material presented in the brochure, it is important to begin the design process by selecting these factors according to the needs of the audience that is most likely to use the brochure. This ensures that the brochure will elicit a positive first impression and have the best chance of being read by those with whom the designer wishes to communicate (Kern, 1992). Since researchers in the present study were designing a brochure to be distributed to new residents in the Nacogdoches area and a majority of these new residents are college students, both objective and subjective experiments on the readability and preference for color combinations and font styles were performed on a majority of college students but also included non-college community members.
The use of color can make a brochure attractive and noticeable, and getting a brochure noticed and selected by a potential reader is the first step to conveying the information to the target audience. For this reason, brochure creators often choose to use colored text, colored background, or both in their design. According to Silverstein (as cited in Pastoor, 1990), experimental literature indicates that color has an advantage over achromatic displays by providing the subjective benefit of making the work more pleasant for the reader. Since the goal of a brochure designer is to communicate important information, it is essential to keep the readers' attention by making reading a more pleasurable experience.
Selection of the appropriate combination of text and background color, however, requires careful consideration. Certain colors, like bright reds and greens, elicit a strong afterimage and may not be desirable for brochures that also include the use of white letters on a dark background, since looking at these colors may temporarily distort the color of the white lettering (Allan, Siegel, Collins, & MacQueen, 1989). According to Travis, Bowles, Seton, and Peppe (1990), it is also wise to avoid highly saturated color pairs like deep blues and violets because of chromatic aberration. Tinker and Paterson's (1931) study on the readability of ten different text/background color combinations compared with the readability of black text on white paper indicated that the black on white yielded the fastest reading rate in all comparisons. It is important to note that the advantage of this pair over color combinations like green on white, blue on white, and black on yellow was slight, indicating that these combinations were nearly as effective in creating optimal readability. Scores on notability for different text/background combinations on the Starch Readership Service survey, however, indicated that the most readable color combinations, particularly black on a white or yellow background, received the lowest score for notability (Moriarty, 1984). People seemed to prefer unusual color combinations regardless of their hindering effect on reading speed (Pastoor, 1990).
Studies indicating readers' preference for colored text and backgrounds have led to new research on ways to preserve the readability of text while adding the subjective benefit of color. One study on how reading rates were affected by the use of colored text rather than black text indicated that readers can could often use color contrast, which refers to differences in chromaticity, just as well as luminance or brightness differences between the characters and the background (Legge, Parish, Luebker, and Wurm, 1990). These researchers plotted reading rates versus contrast for both luminance and color contrasts and found that the two curves had the same shape and were superimposed when contrast was measured in multiples of the threshold value. However, Legge et al. also found no additive advantage of using both color and luminance contrast together. In this case, performance was determined by the form of contrast that produced the highest reading rate. Results of such studies indicated that using colored text and background with high chromatic contrast between the two could provide the benefit of attractiveness to the reader while still maintaining the readability that was permitted with black text on a white background.
Type set and treatment are other important factors in creating a readable brochure. Legibility studies have found that treatments like reverse text copy, the use of all caps rather than mixed-case lettering, and surprinting text over patterned backgrounds hindered perceptual processing of the information presented (Moriarty, 1984). Tinker and Paterson (as cited in Wesson, 1987) found that materials that were presented in lowercase were read significantly faster than materials that were presented in all caps and that readers reported that lowercase headings were more legible and pleasing. Keller and Breland (as cited in Wesson, 1987) corroborated the finding that lower case letters were more legible than all caps by measuring the number of words that could be correctly reported after a glance at a headline.
Type size and style are two additional factors of concern when creating a brochure that can be easily used by all prospective members of the target audience. Although larger font sizes are helpful for individuals with certain vision problems, the size of font that maximizes readability differs greatly from person to person (Koenig & Ross, 1991). Since most of Nacogdoches' new residents are college students, and it would probably not be possible to increase the size of the font enough to make the brochure readable for the visually impaired while still including all the information, designers of this brochure used a 12-point font for the text.
The present study examined the effects of text color, background color, and font style on readability and preference for six brochures with identical content and organization. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that the use of a light colored paper such as yellow with black print would produce the highest readability and that other text colors such as dark green or blue would produce a near optimal readability as well as receive higher subjective preference from readers. Research results on the use of serif and san serif fonts were mixed, but traditionalists reported that san serif was more difficult to read (Moriarty, 1982). Therefore, it was hypothesized that readers would find the twelve-point font size most readable in a serif font style such as New York or Times.
Method
Participants
Participants included 143 Stephen F. Austin State University students and 39 non- college-aged community members. The only requirement for participation was having normal or corrected-to-normal vision. All of the participants completed the subjective survey portion of the experiment, and the 14 experimenters who were senior students enrolled in Psychology of Perception as well as the professor and teaching assistant for the class also completed both objective and subjective computer portions.
Materials and Design
Computer Experiment: The computer portion of the experiment employed a 3x2x4 within-subjects, factorial design in which the independent variables were background color, text color, and font style. Levels of the background color variable included light green (RGB=204, 255, 102), light blue (RGB=204, 255, 255), and light yellow (RGB=255, 255, 102). Text color levels were black (RGB=0,0,0) which was used with all three background colors and "other"which included dark blue (RGB=0,0,102) presented on the light blue and light green backgrounds and dark green (RGB=0,85,0) presented on the light yellow background. The four levels of font style were New York, Geneva, Charcoal, and Times. All the font styles were presented in 12-point size. The median search time in milliseconds for the hidden target word in each condition served as the dependent variable, and only correct searches were used in calculating the medians.
Experimenters used BC PowerLab to present a 94-word paragraph that was taken from the brochure and to measure search times for a target word within that paragraph. In the objective portion of the computer experiment, the paragraph was presented in 24 different conditions each including a different combination of the two text colors, three background colors, and four font styles. One of three target words, circle, triangle, or square, was embedded in each presentation of the paragraph. The content of the paragraph was the same as that in the actual brochure except that a three word section that contained a target word had been removed.
Each of the 24 conditions was presented three times making a total of 72 trials. The trials were presented in random order. To prevent practice effects, researchers counterbalanced the target words by using a different one in each of the three presentations of a particular condition. Researchers further counterbalanced by placing the target word for a particular condition at different locations in the passage in each of the three trials of a condition. The placement of target words in the passages was also chosen so that no target word appeared more than one-third of the time in any location across all trials.
Each of the 24 conditions was presented only once in the subjective portion of the computer experiment. The independent variables and their levels remained the same; however, the dependent variable in this portion, was derived from ratings on a five-point Likert Scale, with a rating of one indicating a strong dislike and a rating of five indicating a strong preference. Researchers used these ratings along with the average median search times to examine the correlation between the participants' performance on a particular condition and their preference for that condition.
Brochure Survey: The survey portion of the research involved the presentation of six sample brochures which all contained identical information about utilities, activities and events, historical sites, and community services offered in the Nacogdoches area. The brochure was presented on all three paper colors: light green, light blue, and light yellow. Each brochure color was presented twice. In one presentation, the headings were Charcoal font with Times text, and in the other, the headings were in New York font with Geneva text. The utilities section of the brochures containing the New York/Geneva combination was in Arial font in order to fit all of the information into the allotted space. Although the text in all brochures was black, the headings were colored in one presentation of each background color. For the light blue and light green backgrounds, the headings were dark blue, and for the yellow background, the headings were dark green. Half of the brochures contained the Charcoal headings in color while the other half contained the New York headings in color. The other brochure of a particular color contained all black headings.
The order in which the brochures were presented to participants was random and varied across the researchers. Each surveyor, however, used the same presentation order for all his participants. Participants used a five-point Likert Scale to rate the readability, ink color, paper color, font style of the text, font style of headings, and ease in location of information for each brochure. Participants also answered a short summary questionnaire concerning their overall impression of the organization and information presented in the brochure. See Appendix A for a list of questions from the brochure survey.
Procedure
Computer Experiment:: Participants in the computer portion of the experiment were told to find one of the target words in each presentation of the passage from the brochure. The participant was then instructed to click the mouse on the shape at the bottom of the screen that corresponded to that target word. Then, by pressing the "return" key, the participant would move on to the next presentation of the passage. Participants completed three practice trials before beginning the experiment. After finishing all 72 experimental trials, participants received one example of each condition and were asked to rate that condition on a five-point Likert scale. The computer portion of the experiment took approximately 30-45 minutes to complete.
Brochure Survey: Participants in the survey portion of the experiment were presented with each of the six numbered brochures and asked to respond to the different qualities of the brochure by rating them on a five-point Likert scale. After examining all six brochures, participants were asked to answer four additional questions concerning their overall preferences for certain brochures and to rate the overall organization and content of the brochure.
Results
Computer Experiment:: Researchers calculated the median search time for each subject (N=13) for each condition and used these values in the subsequent analysis of variance. Only correct trials were used for the purpose of calculating the median scores. Researchers found a significant main effect for font style (F(3,39)=3.3,p=.03) with the following mean reaction times in seconds for the Times, Charcoal, New York, and Geneva fonts, respectively: 7.854, 8.218, 6.808, and 7.607. [See Figure 1 for the mean reaction times for each of the 24 conditions.]
Main effects for background color and text color as well as the interactions were non-significant. Although subjects rated conditions that resulted in shorter search times more favorably, the overall correlation between reaction time and subject rating was also not significant (r = -.233,p=.423).
Brochure Survey: The first part of the brochure contained questions for all six brochures individually. For each brochure, ratings from the 5-point Likert scales for all six survey questions were tallied according to participant groups which were defined as college (N=143) or non-college (N=39) and by whether or not the participants received the headings in color print. The totals for each group were then weighted and averaged to determine the mean ratings for each survey question. [See Table 1 for the mean Likert ratings for each question for each of the six brochures by each group of participants.]
The second part of the brochure survey contained four questions which asked participants to make comparisons across the six brochures. Two of these questions required the participants to respond by selecting one of the six brochures, and the other two were answered using Likert scales. College and non-college participants differed in both their selection of the most attention-catching brochure and their choice of a favorite brochure. On both of these questions, the college participants selected the yellow brochure with the Charcoal/Geneva font combination while the non-college participants selected the blue brochure with the same font combination. [See Figure 2a-d for the graphical summary of the participants' responses to these four questions.]
The last question of the survey also contained an open-ended part regarding the reason for the participants' individual preferences for the different brochures. Participants who answered this portion of the fourth question (N=154) indicated a slight preference for the use of colored ink, both blue and green, over black, with a higher percentage of the participants responding to this part reporting a preference for colored ink. The percentages of participants who indicated liking black and colored text were 9% and 25%, respectively.
Discussion
The results of this study corroborated previous research findings which indicated that a serif font style was most readable (Moriarty, 1982) and supported the researchers' hypothesis that presenting text in a serif style like New York or Times would aid in creating a brochure that new Nacogdoches residents would find useful and easy to read. The slight preference for colored text over black text was expected given previous research conclusions by Pastoor (1990) which indicated that readers often prefer novelties like colored text even when these treatments inhibit readability. The non-significance of the correlation between search times and subject rating corroborated Moriarty's (1984) finding that indicated that people did not always favor the most readable presentation of text. It is interesting to note that in this study, the brochures most selected as favorites by both the college and non-college survey participants contained Charcoal headings which produced the slowest mean search time in the computer experiment. Also, within both the college and non-college groups, the brochure most often selected as being the most attention-catching was also most often selected as the favorite brochure. This finding further supports the idea that readers prefer reading material that catches their eye. Additionally, the finding that the text and background color combinations did not significantly inhibit readability was not surprising given that researchers chose colors with high chromatic contrast, and previous research by Legge et al. (1990) indicated that this form of contrast was just as effective as luminance contrast in producing an optimal reading rate.
Several factors may have affected the results of the study including the match between the colors used in the computer experiment and those used in the survey portion of the research. Background colors for the computer part were subjectively matched to the paper colors of the six sample brochures and, therefore, were not perfect physical matches for the brochures that the survey participants used to rate their preferences for color choices, color combinations, and readability. Additionally, previous research hasindicated that it takes longer to read information and locate simple facts from a computer screen than from a printed page (McGoldrick, Martin, Bergering, & Symons, 1992). This factor may have resulted in a longer search time for the target word than subjects would have needed if the experiment had been performed using printed pages. However, McGoldrick et al. (1992) also found that subjects' reading rate improved rather rapidly and reached normal reading speed after only about 12 trials. This rapid improvement combined with the random presentation of the passages to the different computer participants and the number of trials of each condition should have counterbalanced any effect caused by reading from the computer screen. A final factor that may have affected the experimental portion of the research was the use of college students as participants. College students may have more computer experience than the general public and, therefore, be faster at both locating the target word and using the mouse to mark the corresponding symbol.
Based on previous research findings and the results of the current study, it is recommended that the city of Nacogdoches create a brochure that combines any one of the three paper colors with black text and colored headings to ensure readability as well as provide novelty and appeal. The font for the brochure should be a serif style such as New York or Times, and the text should be printed in a twelve-point size in order to make it readable for most members of the target audience. As a courtesy gesture, the city might also consider making the information available to new residents who are visually impaired by producing a limited number of the brochures in a large print version.
References
Allan, L.G., Shepard, S., Collins, J.C., & MacQueen, G.M. (1989). Color aftereffect contingent on text, Perception and Psychophysics, 46(2), 105-113.
Kern, G. (1992). Brochure design and copy writing: Techniques for creating effective promotional literature. Expo Magazine. January/February.
http://www.expo.web.com.expomag.backissues/1992/0292_ brochure.html. (Retrieved 8 March 1999).
Koenig, A.J. & Ross, D.B. (1991). A procedure to evaluate the relative effectiveness of reading in large and regular print. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 85(5), 198-204.
Legge, G.E., Parish, D.H., Luebker, A., & Wurm, L.H. (1990). Psychophysics of reading: XI. Comparing color contrast and luminance contrast. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 7(10), 2002-2010.
McGoldrick, J.A., Martin, J., Bergering, A.J., & Symons, S. (1992). Locating discreet information in text: Effects of computer presentation and menu formatting. Journal of Reading Behavior, 24(1), 1-20.
Moriarty, S.E. (1982). Trends in advertising typography. Journalism Quarterly, 59, 290- 94.
Moriarty, S.E. (1984). Novelty vs. practicality in advertising typography. Journalism Quarterly, 59, 188-90.
Pastoor, S. (1990). Legibility and subjective preference for color combinations in text. Human Factors, 32(2), 157-71. Tinker, M.A. & Paterson, D.G. (1931). Studies of typographical factors influencing speed of reading: VII. Variations in color of print and background. Journal of Applied Psychology, 15, 471-79.
Travis, D.S., Bowles, S., Seton, J., & Peppe, R. (1990). Reading from color displays: A Psychophysical Model. Human Factors, 32(2), 147-156.
Wesson, D.A. & Stewart, E. (1987). Gender and relationship of heads in magazine ads. Journalism Quarterly, 64, 189-93.
Appendix A
The following questions were asked independently for each of the six brochures. Participants responded using a five-point Likert scale with one indicating very difficult for the first and third questions and five indicating very easy. Participants used the same scale for all parts of question two except that on this question one indicated very little while five indicated very much.
1. How easy would it be to locate information in this brochure?
2. How well do you like the following:
a) ink color
b) paper color
c) text font/type style
d) headings font/type style
3. How readable did you find the text?
Participants were asked to consider all six brochures when answering the following questions. For the first and fourth questions of this portion of the survey, participants selected one of the six brochures. For questions two and three, ratings were recorded using the Likert scale. On question two a rating of one indicated too little information and a rating of five indicated too much information. For the third question, a response of one meant poorly organized while a response of five meant well organized.
1. If you saw one of these brochures on a rack in the store, which would be most likely to catch your attention?
2. How would you rate the amount of information presented in the brochures?
3. Did you think the content was presented in an organized fashion?
4. Which of the brochures do you like best and why?