Font Psychology - e journals

https://www.canva.com/learn/font-psychology/

In a nutshell, font psychology the study of how different fonts impact thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
People have very different (and, oftentimes, very specific) thoughts, feelings, and associations with different font types. For example, when you use Comic Sans in a design, it’s going to create a very different emotional response for your audience than if you were to use Arial, Roboto, or Montserrat. Or when you feature Times New Roman as your primary font, people are going to associate it with completely different thoughts, feelings, and ideas than they would if you chose Yellowtail or Baloo. Understanding those different associations and emotional responses—and how to use them to your advantage? That’s font psychology.

For example, let’s say you’re designing a poster to promote your new children’s clothing line—and you want your audience to feel happy and cheerful when they look at it. Choosing a more whimsical script or graphic font is going to create the emotional response you’re looking for—while a more traditional serif is likely to fall flat.

https://www.nickkolenda.com/font-psychology/

Most people can’t articulate the reason because the mechanism occurs subconsciously.
"Brain's associative network"
Subconscious influence

Font Weights

Heavy - Large

Thin - Loose

Small - Tight

Notice something? Those traits are general adjectives. They describe stimuli outside of the font world. And that’s crucial.

Fonts share visual characteristics from the real world. If you want to choose an appropriate font, then choose a font that visually resembles your context:

Kang and Choi (2013) 

Effects of Mobile Text Advertising on Consumer Purchase Intention: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Seok_Kang3/publication/264813293_Factors_influencing_intention_of_mobile_application_use/links/5493a83c0cf22d7925da332c.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5481363/

Kang and Choi (2013) created ads for a cell phone. When ads emphasized the “slim” nature of the phone, condensed typefaces performed better:

However, some ads referenced the elegant nature of the phone. In those cases, the opposing font performed better

In both cases, the font matched the visual qualities of the product.

Psychology of onscreen type: investigations regarding typeface personality, appropriateness, and impact on document perception

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Psychology-of-onscreen-type%3A-investigations-and-on-Shaikh/47e231de57cfaa5ea5d858f4ae18d2bcd2574aa1

“…[direct] associations refer to the influence of historical precedence on affective response to typography. The typeface Fraktur has many associations with Nazi Germany, and Helvetica is commonly associated with the U.S. government since it is used by the IRS on tax forms.” (Shaikh, 2007, pp. 21)

Those fonts acquire meaning through your semantic network. Whenever you see a font (e.g., Fraktur), you associate meaning — based on the context. That includes semantic meaning (e.g., Nazi Germany) and emotional meaning (e.g., disgust).

Whenever you encounter that font in a future context, you modify the original connections in your network:

If the context is SIMILAR, you’ll STRENGTHEN the connections

If the context is DISSIMILAR, you’ll WEAKEN the connections

If the context is NEW, you’ll ADD new connections

That’s how fonts acquire meaning (see Shaikh, 2007). It’s a never-ending process that we’ve been performing our entire lives.

*For the use of standardised type: already understanding the target audience's perception of the font and its associated history is effective and also creates similarity. However a bespoke type can create a new association or merge associations wanted to create - possibly allow for more control over what is trying to be communicated. Expressionist movements illicit emotional responses.

"In the previous step, the font activated related nodes in your network. At this point, you combine those activated concepts into a collective meaning for the font. The collective meaning is a combination of semantic concepts (e.g., beauty) and emotional feelings (e.g., pleasantness). Because of the concoction of meaning, you often can’t articulate it."
When you evaluate fonts, you consider the appropriateness of the font (Doyle & Bottomley, 2004).

SERIF VS SANS SERIF

• Serif's are more readable in print “Roman typefaces are more legible because the theory states that serifs assist in the horizontal flow of reading and eye movements.” (De Lange et al., 1993, pp. 246) https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Performance-Differences-Between-Times-and-Helvetica-Lange-Esterhuizen/593622000cdca280fb6b4df3720844ba44ba7427
• Sans Serif is more readable on screen "Computer screens display information through a pixelated grid. Due to that box-like structure, a serif may be less identifiable."
•  Serif is more elegant "In one study, people evaluated scientific text more favorably when the font contained serifs (Kaspar et al., 2015). Other research suggests that serif fonts seem more elegant and beautiful (Tantillo, Lorenzo-Aiss, & Mathisen, 1995)." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ijop.12160?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mar.4220120508
• Sans Serif is more contemporary "Conversely, people perceive sans-serif fonts to be more informal and innovative (Tantillo, Lorenzo-Aiss, & Mathisen, 1995)."

• Light fonts convey beauty and femininity (as associated with irl beauty standards)
• Medium fonts are most readable - Luckiesh and Moss (1940) researched the optimal weight for readability. They displayed “Memphis” in different weights, and they found that medium weights were most readable: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1940-04712-001
• Bold fonts convey power - Lieven et al. (2015) also explain a connection between heavy typefaces and masculinity. Since people associate a bulky stature with men, bold fonts match that visual trait.

Adapted from http://data.adic.co.kr/lit/publication/tmp/A9001338/A9001338.pdf
Source from https://www.nickkolenda.com/font-psychology/