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Our website’s editorial style guide
You can now view our website’s editorial style guide, all for free, that contains loads of good stuff aimed at wide-spread usability and text comprehension. We know that people have very personal, subjective and funny views about editorial style, punctuation and grammar, so it could be of interest for those with a penchant for syntax (forgive the gobbledygook). We hope you find it useful. Any issues or errors, please do contact us. June 2023.
New article Local Independent Bookshop Fox Books in Leicester, United Kingdom, and the Future of Physical Bookshops…
We have researched and written the article Local Independent Bookshop Fox Books in Leicester, United Kingdom, and the Future of Physical Bookshops… that highlights the current environment in 2023 and changing times in the retail sector after Covid‑19, and what they might need to do to butter the bread. We hope it is of some use. March 2023.
New article Useful Accessibility and Usability Examples To Help Improve Your Designs
We were asked by the Smashing Magazine team to write another article and produced Useful Accessibility and Usability Examples To Help Improve Your Designs to help designers make their designs more accessible and usable, and to envisage and come-up with new ideas in the areas of accessibility and usability. The easily over-looked area of access structures is discussed, that seems to have been most notably mentioned wayback in 1979 by the information designer Rob Waller, although they rarely get mentioned in current times. The article is for designers on their lunch break and we worked on the tone of the writing more than usual to make it upbeat, lively and increase readers motivation. We have previously explored and discussed tone in writing, in our interview An Interview With Anne-Marie Chisnall From Write on Plain English and Information Design, and as people say tone is a funny thing. Thanks again to Iris Lješnjanin and Yana Kirilenko. December 2022.
Measuring the Performance of Typefaces for Users paper
Often people and designers who use and select typefaces, do so using their personal preference and do not see or forget the larger system. What objectivity can we hope to gain from testing typefaces? The difficult and complex area of testing typefaces, in our paper Measuring the Performance of Typefaces for Users (Part 1) and Measuring the Performance of Typefaces for Users (Part 2) but ‘I think we are there’.
The paper was wrote in about 3 days (quick to write) although Alma Hoffmann (Smashing Magazine editor) pushed us much more, and the paper went through 3 rewrites and 3 reedits (slow to publish) but certainly benefited. Thanks again to Alma Hoffmann and Natalia Lassance.
‘Well, whatever your thoughts are, in 2022, with a mass of typefaces available and 100s of years of designing and manufacturing typefaces, it is time to consider this topic. I think the time has come, and we are there’.
We hope you find the paper useful. Some editorial style errors remain, but we tried our best with the time available. June 2022.
Interview with Joanna Suau in the Information Design Journal, 26(2), 2021
The rise of APIs… We are delighted to announce An Interview With Joanna Suau From Infobip on the Design of Application Programming Interface (API) Documentation in the Information Design Journal, 26(2), 2021. March 2022.
Interview with Paul Jerome in the Information Design Journal, 26(1), 2021
We are delighted to announce that our interview An Interview With Paul Jerome From Kent County Council on Easy Read has been published in the Information Design Journal, 26(1), 2021.
Easy read is essentially information designed for people with learning difficulties, that is typically made larger in size and more blatant than typical information is, as well as making the text content easy‑to‑understand. Thanks to Paul, Patricia and Francisco. August 2021.
Interview with Chris Hackley on advertising and marketing
We have done a new self-initiated interview called an Interview With Professor Chris Hackley (Professor of Marketing, Royal Holloway, University of London) on the Past, Present and Future of Advertising and Marketing that is on our Medium, enjoy. November 2020.
2 interviews for the Information Design Journal, 25(2), 2019
We are delighted to announce that we have done 2 interviews for the Information Design Journal, 25(2), 2019.
The 1st interview is An Interview With Barbra Kingsley From Kleimann Communication Group on Information Design on all things information design and financial statement design.
The 2nd interview is An Interview With Anne-Marie Chisnall From Write on Plain English and Information Design on all things clear writing. Thanks again to Carla, Barbra and Anne-Marie. August 2020.
The Best Dutch Book Designs 2017 book review
We have reviewed the interesting The Best Dutch Book Designs 2017 yearly printed annual on our Medium. For more information about the competition visit The Best Dutch Book Designs Competition website. August 2020.
Micro-Typography: How to Space and Kern Punctuation Marks and Other Symbols paper
We have researched and written a paper called Micro‑Typography: How to Space and Kern Punctuation Marks and Other Symbols for Smashing Magazine. The paper expands on the issue within micro‑typography, and is a gathering of ideas and issues from past years. It is slightly technical and is of interest to typographers, typesetters, typeface designers, font engineers and software developers. There is also a live real-time micro‑typography example (see Figure 5 within the paper), so you can see exactly what the micro‑typographic spacing of punctuation marks and other associated symbols actually is. Thanks to Rachel, Iris, Erik, Roland and Jost. May 2020.
Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters by Harold Evans
We cannot afford to separate text content and graphic content, and information design makes no distinction between the 2, they are both main elements of communication, although designers often do not edit text, and writers often do not understand the complex area of graphic communication design.
We have reviewed Harold Evan’s book Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters on UXmatters. What do people mean by clear writing, what exactly is clear, what can we do to make our writing work for as many people as possible, what does best practice advise? All these questions are raised and explored in the book review. (Please note this book review was heavily copyedited and reworded by the editor.) Thanks to Pabini. March 2020.
2 interviews for the Information Design Journal, 24(3), 2018
We are delighted to announce that we have done 2 interviews for the Information Design Journal, 24(3), 2018.
The 1st interview is User Experience Research and SoundCloud in Berlin: An Interview With Brian Snead, Senior User Experience Researcher at SoundCloud.
The 2nd interview is A Discussion on the Past, Present and Future of Paper: An Interview With Renée Yardley and Robert Mannix. October 2019.
AccessAbility 2: A Practical Handbook on Accessible Graphic Design work showcase
Our work and research is on page 25 of AccessAbility 2: A Practical Handbook on Accessible Graphic Design produced by RGD (Association of Registered Graphic Designers) in partnership with the Government of Ontario (Canada). This guide is a good starter into good practice graphic communication design, accessibility and usability. Thanks to all the team at RGD. May 2019.
Updates to our Letter and Symbol Misrecognition [...] paper on the Typography.Guru website
Our paper Letter and Symbol Misrecognition in Highly Legible Typefaces for General, Children, Dyslexic, Visually Impaired and Ageing Readers [2019 4th Edition] has been updated with new information and editorially corrected. Thanks again to Ralf. May 2019.
Typographic Style Handbook book review
We have done an extensive book review of the Typographic Style Handbook by Michael Mitchell and Susan Wightman in the Information Design Journal, 24(2), 2018. April 2019.
No More New Similar Typefaces for Extended Reading, Please! paper
For a 2nd time we have partnered with Ralf Herrmann from the Typography.Guru website, to publish our paper No More New Similar Typefaces for Extended Reading, Please! This paper seeks to briefly explore the issues of typeface design similarity and usefulness, in contemporary typeface design and development. November 2018.
New chapter in Citizen Designer (2nd Edition) book
We have written a chapter titled Accessibility and Usability in Communication Design on pages 140–157 in a new book title Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility (2nd Edition) by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne. The chapter involved quite a bit of work and includes 46 references. We read the book all the way through and what would we say about it?:
‘The most amazing book, the content is relevant, thought‑provoking and insightful. Almost every page raises many valid points. It is really a treasure trove of issues. This book is a great read for every graphic communication designer. Find out about your responsibilities as a graphic communication designer’.
Buy the book direct from Skyhorse Publishing/Allworth Press website. Many thanks to Steven. August 2018.
What Do Graphic Communication Designers Do? [...] paper
We have published a paper called What Do Graphic Communication Designers Do? Some Thoughts and a List of Disciplines and Specialisms on our Medium, to show what graphic designers do, the areas they have to know about, and also for people choosing a career in this field. February 2018.
Information on Different Categories of People […] paper and infographic
(Note: this paper was originally published on the Usability Geek website in February 2018. In May 2020, we moved it to our Medium so we can update it more easily.)
Our paper Information on Different Categories of People for Graphic Communication, Website and Information Designers Including Free Reusable Infographic has been published on the Usability Geek website. This is the 2nd time we have collaborated with Usability Geek. There is also a freely reusable and copyright free infographic at the end of the paper that accompanies the paper. You can download the infographic as a PDF (good for printing), PNG (good for email), or HTML (online webpage). Thanks again to Justin.
Susan Weinschenk (PhD in psychology) and CEO at The Team W showcased this paper in her April 2018 email newsletter. And in 2015 we reviewed her book 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People in the Information Design Journal 21(1), 2014.
The A11Y Project that provide a great accessibility checklist for website designers, have linked to the paper and infographic on their Resources section.
The Public Library Accessibility Resource Centre (PLARC) and its website Accessible Libraries, is a collaborative project between the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) and the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) in Canada, they have linked to our paper on their website. February 2018.
10 Tips For Better Book Designs paper republished on UXPlanet.org
Our paper 10 Tips For Better Book Designs has been republished on the UXPlanet.org website. (This is the 4th time this paper has been requested to be republished.) Thanks to Nick. October 2017.
Small Print In Graphic Communication and Information Design: A Discussion of Issues and Interactions paper
(Note: this paper was originally published on the Usability Geek website in January 2017. In April 2023, we moved it to our Medium so we can update it more easily.)
Our paper Small Print In Graphic Communication and Information Design: A Discussion of Issues and Interactions has been published on the Usability Geek website. Thanks to Justin. January 2017.
Letter and Symbol Misrecognition […] paper updated on the Typography.Guru website, and interview with Steven Heller
Our paper Letter and Symbol Misrecognition in Highly Legible Typefaces for General, Children, Dyslexic, Visually Impaired and Ageing Readers [2016 2nd Edition] has been updated and republished on the Typography.Guru website, as a 2016 2nd edition. (Updates and corrections were done to the text, figures and references.)
Thanks once again to Ralf from Typography.Guru, and also Steven Heller the renowned graphic design writer, who interviewed us about the paper in his Daily Heller: Type for Impaired Eyes, Print Magazine, 24th October 2016.
Snapshots III book
Our paper 10 Tips for Better Book Designs has been republished in a book called Snapshots III (ISBN: 978-1-909362-03-1) produced by Book Machine and Kingston University Press. It contains short papers from a range of people in the publishing industry. More information about the book can be found here. August 2016.
Letter and Symbol Misrecognition […] paper published on the Typography.Guru website
Our paper Letter and Symbol Misrecognition in Highly Legible Typefaces for General, Children, Dyslexic, Visually Impaired and Ageing Readers has been published on the Typography.Guru website. Thanks also to Design Week, ilovetypography.com, Smashing Magazine, The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) and Typostrate for taking an interest in the paper. December 2015.
Letter and Symbol Misrecognition […] paper and book review in the Information Design Journal
Our paper Letter and Symbol Misrecognition in Highly Legible Typefaces for General, Children, Dyslexic, Visually Impaired and Ageing Readers has been published in the Information Design Journal, 21(1), 2014. We also reviewed Susan Weinschenk’s great book 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People at the end. June 2015.
10 Tips for Better Book Designs paper
Our paper has been republished for a 3rd time in a near original form, on the Book Machine website. March 2015.
When Information Design is a Matter of Life or Death paper
Our double peer-reviewed paper When Information Design is a Matter of Life or Death has been published on the Boxes and Arrows website. November 2014.
10 Tips for Better Book Designs paper
Our paper 10 Tips for Better Book Designs has been published on Creative Choices (website not online anymore), and in their email newsletter (issue 172, January 2014). January 2014.
10 Tips for Better Book Designs paper
Our paper 10 Tips for Better Book Designs has been published on the Creative Bloq website. (The paper was heavily edited by them and some content was not included.) October 2013.
Hiut typographic magazine
A short version of our paper Letter and Symbol Misrecognition in Highly Legible Typefaces for General, Children, Dyslexic, Visually Impaired and Ageing Readers has been publishing in Korean, in the typographic magazine Hiut, 4(2), 2013.
Letter and Symbol Misrecognition […] paper published in the international typographics magazines Baseline 61 and Slanted #18
Our paper Letter and Symbol Misrecognition in Highly Legible Typefaces for General, Children, Dyslexic, Visually Impaired and Ageing Readers has been published in Baseline 61 (2012), Kent, U.K. Launched in 1979, it is the authoritative magazine about type and typography.
The paper has also been published in the typographic magazine Slanted #18, Signage/Orientation from Karlsruhe, Germany.
The paper is essential reading for anyone interested in legibility, clear typographic design, typeface design and typographic accessibility. June 2012.
Paper published in the Information Design Journal
Our paper Getting Around the Reproduction Problems of Colored Graphs has been published in the international peer-reviewed Information Design Journal, 18(1), 2010. John Benjamins, Amsterdam. August 2010.
International collaborative project with the Communication Research Institute
We took part in an international collaborative communication research project called Credit Card Statements: Communication Benchmarks 2009, for the Communication Research Institute, Australia. View project report and findings (PDF). May 2009.
