A Typographic Quest, Number 3, Type to be Read – booklet, Westvaco, Carl Dair, 1965

In number three of the A Typographic Quest series, Type to be Read, Carl Dair turns to the workhorse of the printed page: the text face. Unlike display types, where visual impact is paramount, text faces must be judged by their ability to sustain attention over time. For Dair, the critical question is not one of style, but of usability. How a typeface is set and arranged on the page determines whether – and how – a person reads the text.

He outlines the basic rules for setting continuous text to make reading as effortless as possible. Whether it’s a bothersome sales brochure or potentially life-saving instructions, if the type is difficult to read, the message may never be received – a basic cause of “a failure to communicate.”

This issue also introduces Dair’s prototype for the Alphacast, a system he devised to help designers estimate how much space a typewritten manuscript would occupy when set in a specific typeface and size. Before the digital era, such calculations were essential. Designers had to know the type size, leading, and line length before ordering typesetting – a process Dair sought to simplify. He had planned to market the Alphacast but passed away before it could be finalized. – Rod McDonald

Artifact Text

The sizes of type: (A brief excerpt from Chapter 5)
“The selection of the proper size of type is of critical importance for easy reading, and this will vary with the audience in respect to age, education, and condition of eyesight. There are no fixed rules, but certainly a book for a child just learning to read should not be set smaller than an 18-point type, nor should an educated adult of average vision be expected to cope with any great length of text set in less than 8-point.”