An Experimental Approach to the Typographic Design of Textbooks

Abstract

Three different approaches were taken to try to improve the legibility of a textbook for secondary school: 1) two columns of about 58 mm (15 picas) line width instead of one column of about 126 mm (32 picas) line width, 2) insertion of additional space between the constituents of the sentences to convey the phrase structure of the text, and 3) "visualizing" the information by structuring it vertically and horizontally in such a way that the total design is more appropriate to the visual medium. In an experimental test of a lesson in physics printed in a standard version and in the above three experimental versions, given to 600 students, only the third on ("visualization") showed an improvement over the standard version.