The effects of level of illumination, stroke-width, visual angle and contrast on the legibility of numerals of various fonts.

Author(s)
Hind, P.R. Tritt, B.H. & Hoffmann, E.R.
Year
Abstract

EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECTS OF LEVEL OF ILLUMINATION, STROKE-WIDTH, VISUAL ANGLE AND CONTRAST ON LEGIBILITY OF NUMERALS SHOWS THAT SOME FONTS TESTED ARE SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN OTHERS. THERE IS AN OPTIMUM LUMINANCE LEVEL (OF ABOUT 34.3 CD/SQ.M) FOR LEGIBILITY OF WHITE LETTERS ON A BLACK BACKGROUND. WHITE LETTERS ON BLACK BACKGROUND ARE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE LEGIBLE THAN BLACK NUMERALS ON A WHITE BACKGROUND. OPTIMUM LEGIBILITY IS OBTAINED WHEN STROKE-WIDTH/HEIGHT RATIOS ARE LESS THAN 1/6 FOR BLACK NUMERALS AND ABOUT 1/12 FOR WHITE NUMERALS. A SET OF NUMERALS WAS SELECTED FROM ALL THOSE TESTED WHICH IS SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN ANY OF THE STANDARD SETS, PARTICULARLY FOR BLACK NUMERALS ON A WHITE BACKGROUND. (A). FOR THE COVERING ABSTRACT OF THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS SEE IRRD ABSTRACT NO. 226354.

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Publication

Library number
C 51487 (In: B 13293 [electronic version only]) /83 / IRRD 226350
Source

In: Proceedings of the 8th Conference of the Australian Road Research Board, Perth, August 23 - 27, 1976. Volume 8, Part 5, Traffic Engineering, Session 25, p. 46-55, 18 ref.

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