Let’s talk about type

We saw the above figure on Instagram in honour of European 112-day, which celebrates the alarm number in use across Europe on the 11^th of February (11/2). Below the number in the image is the Dutch text ‘Daar red je levens mee’, which translates to ‘to save lives’. 112 is also in use as an alarm number in parts of Asia and Africa. In the US the equivalent is 911, whereas in the UK it is 999. Across the globe there are other numbers in use too.

What you can’t help but notice in the image is that the last number is rather ambiguous. Is it a 2? Or is it a 9? Or perhaps a different character all together? Who cares? Everyone knows the emergency number of their country right? However, a 2009 study in Ireland found that 88.9% of those surveyed knew the correct numbers (112 or 999 in the case of Ireland)¹. A similar percentage (88.3%) was found in Queensland, Australia². That means 1 in 10 did not know the right number to dial in case of an emergency. Thus, there remains scope for educational and promotional campaigns with regards to awareness, recall and use of the alarm number.

The chosen font in the image (likely Siffon Pro) violates the most important rule when it comes to effective communication: legibility. Legibility determines whether you can recognise characters. The term font refers to a specific style of a typeface. Thus, whereas Times New Roman is a typeface, Times New Roman italic, 12 pt is a font. When we look at the full sets of characters in Siffon Pro (Figure 2), the ‘2’ and the ‘9’ are easier to distinguish. However, when only confronted with the above graphic we don’t have that context, and thus we are left to wonder.

Certain fonts, especially those frequently used in wayfinding, are optimised for legibility. For example, a mere 3 fonts are used in 75% of the world’s airports³: Helvetica, Frutiger and Clearview (Figure 3). The latter was designed for use across the US on highway signage⁴. What these three fonts have in common is that they are so-called sans-serif fonts, which means they do not have small projecting features, or “serifs,” at the end of strokes. This lends these fonts a neutral, clean, simple, and modern appearance.

Font choice has some other important impacts besides influencing legibility⁵. Typefaces have a strong subconscious impact on how we perceive things, and the characteristics we imbue messages or items with. They have personality, and you can think of typefaces as body language for words. Type also has an influence on trust, and thus in choosing a typeface it needs to be appropriate to the message and the situation.

When it comes to fonts for emergency management these are first and foremost functional. Of course they need to be appealing in order to draw your attention to some extent, but if you can not read them, or understand what is being communicated, it renders the exercise useless. This is especially the case during an emergency when people need to quickly process information.

Although we are not aware of any fonts that are specifically designed for emergency management there are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a font for use in your work.

Accessibility

To ensure legibility it is important to use a typeface that has characters that can easily distinguished. To determine whether the typeface you want to use we recommend the I-l-1 test. Comparing the uppercase ‘I’ (as in iconography), lowercase ‘l’ (as in legibility), and the number ‘1’: in general, the easier these are to distinguish, the more legible the font. This test works for both serif and sans-serif typefaces. If you apply this to figure 3 for example, you see that Clearview has more distinct characters than Helvetica or Frutiger. This is especially relevant in situations where you use alphanumeric information. If your chosen font doesn’t pass the I-l-1 test, then it may not be the best fit, but it doesn’t make it a bad typeface: Siffon Pro could be a great font for a header or at a cocktail bar. There are fonts that have been developed especially for people with reading impairments such as dyslexia. However, research suggests that these do not make a significant difference⁶. Rather, making text more legible for everyone also helps people with dyslexia^7,8. Another important note here is that font size, although of course dependent on your chosen medium, as small type gets harder to read with age.

Audience

Who is your audience? What are their expectations? How old are they? If we want to build trust, as mentioned before it is important that the typeface matches the content of a message (Figure 4). Comic Sans is perhaps the most hated font in the designer’s toolbox, but it is frequently used by non-designers and it is especially prominent in communications aimed at children. However, it is not necessarily appropriate to emergency contexts, as adults can perceive it as being spoken to like a child. In addition an inappropriate font choice can undermine credibility, such as when CERN used it to announce the very important scientific discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle⁹.

Context

There are many questions that can be considered when it comes to context. What are you trying to communicate, and when? What is the cognitive state of your audience at the time of communication? Depending on the situation it might be more important for you to choose a more emotive font to connect with your audience first, before being able to convey more in-depth information. What other fonts and information might you be competing with in your chosen medium and location? Can we use typography to help us to remember what to do in an emergency?

There are fonts that have been developed specifically for the purpose of assisting with information retention. One of these is Sans Forgetica (Figure 5). It was launched in 2018 by RMIT¹¹ and designed on using principles of design and psychology. However, subsequent research has shown that the font does not aid retention^12,13: our brains quickly learn to decode the font like any other.

There are many other factors to consider when aiming for good typography, such as the spacing between letters (kerning), lines of text (leading), the length of lines of text, the medium or media for which you are designing (sans-serif fonts tend to outperform serif fonts at smaller scales) and the cultural context in which you are designing. If you’re feeling overwhelmed please get in touch or contact a graphic designer near you.

In short, the font you choose contributes to how well you can communicate. However, communication goes beyond legibility: Whereas the choice of typeface greatly influences legibility, readability arises from a combination of the choice of typeface, design and layout. As always, testing your design choices in context is the best way to determine performance.

There is a lot more to say about font choice, and for a more in-depth look we recommend Sarah Hyndman’s book and the Type Tasting blog, The Monotype website, and Ellen Lupton’s and Sofie Beier’s books on typography.

In the meantime however, we propose this re-designed graphic to promote the 112-alarm number that takes legibility into account: