Sofie Beier is an assistant research professor at The Danish Design School.

Sofie Beier’s field of research is type design with a particular emphasis on typeface legibility. Among other aspects, she examines which characteristics determine the legibility of various typefaces. Through experimental studies where readers are exposed to various typefaces she studies how specific characteristics affect legibility and the reading experience. Her goal is to generate new knowledge about the influence of design on reading.

In her current research project Sofie Beier is collecting existing knowledge on type design and legibility from both research and practice. She compares scientific research findings with practitioners’ experiences and plans to have a book published in 2011 to make this knowledge available in an accessible language. The purpose is to improve future designers’ ability to base type design on existing knowledge and to present research-based arguments for their proposed solutions in a dialogue with the clients.

In an upcoming research project Sofie Beier will study the concept of font-tuning, which investigates the process and pace at which the reader is able to tune in to a specific typeface and thus read the text. She distinguishes between visibility, that is, the visibility or clarity of the shape, including features such as contrast and proportions, and familiarity, which relates to the essential recognisability of the character. The purpose of this project is to discover how quickly readers are able to get used to different typefaces, such as typefaces with different variations of serifs.

The knowledge generated through Sofie Beier’s study will help shed light on the letter characteristics that determine typeface legibility. In this way she wants to demonstrate, for example, how differently the letters in a typeface can be designed without compromising speed of reading. Thus, her research can help give type designers new knowledge about how creative they can afford to be in their design of letters without reducing reading comfort.

See also articles in Mind Design #8: and Mind Design #30.
 
Sofie Beier teaches and consults on graphic design with an emphasis on corporate identity and typeface design both in the basic and the advanced study programmes.

Sofie Beier graduated as a graphic designer from The Danish Design School and holds a Ph.D. from the Royal College of Art, London. Thesis title: Typeface Legibility: Towards defining familiarity.

Key words Type design, typefaces, legibility, speed of reading, reading comfort, font-tuning, visibility, familiarity