Effect of typeface complexity on automatic reading processes

The introduction of variable fonts widened the possibilities for font applications and increased the ease with which typographers could manage their designs. Variable fonts enable typographers to easily manipulate letter characteristics that exist on a spectrum such as weight, width, or deviation from the neutral letter form. However, this fluidity may also increase visual complexity, which may contribute to the disfluency effect. This study explores the impact of typeface complexity on automatic reading processes using the well-known Stroop Colour and Word task. We show that automatic reading can be negatively affected by typefaces with extremely complex features, but that moderately complex typefaces have little effect. This suggests hard to read typefaces do impair word reading (i.e. they are disfluent) but that skilled readers are able to tolerate a high degree of complexity. It also highlights the utility of cognitive tests for identifying typefaces that are difficult to read.