Spending too Much time looking at the dashboard? "An Evaluation of Typeface Design in a Text-Rich Automotive User Interface "

[russellm]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

http://agelab.mit.edu/files/AgeLab_typeface_white_paper_2012.pdf

[hrant]

Hey, thanks for sharing. A must-read for any Angeleno typophile. :-)

The font on my own car's screen is a "Square Grotesque" which I'm not in love with (for one thing the "6" looks like an injured "8") but it does suit the car!
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/07/ford-flex45015.jpg

BTW did you notice they used "Boume"/"Bourne" as a test word? Funny! I actually almost made a special "m" (and "a") for setting the title of my readability article way back in Typo magazine #13.

hhp

[dezcom]

What amazes me is the gender difference. It seems odd the women would be less affected by the type difference. I wonder if this is some kind of hunter-gatherer thing that would make visual acuity of shapes more important for hunters (and hunted)? Those who survived best were those that could best distinguish friend from foe or food from foe.

[hrant]

That is indeed the most fascinating aspect of the results.

hhp

[dberlowgone]

"What amazes me is the gender difference."

In a video game?

[hrant]

Hey, that explains all the accidents.

hhp

[dezcom]

"In a video game?"
:-)

[oldnick]

Oh, for crying out loud…

Men get distracted by anything that reminds them of sex (and, honestly: what the hell doesn't?), while women could generally care less, unless something reminds them of shoes. Even in a video game: duh.