How much does that letter weigh again?
Elizabeth Mauer - Former Staffer / UsabilityAs user interface designers, how often do we consider the effect of a selected typeface on our UIs? Probably not enough. Of course we all remember to select a typeface that is legible on computer screens and things like that, but do we really look at it in detail? I can’t say I have recently. Until something made me think of it the other night…
I was at the post office mailing a letter. Since it was larger than a regular letter I had to weigh it using the Automated Postal Center in the post office. When I got to the screen where it tells me how much my letter weighed, it said 1 lb. I couldn’t believe it — there was no way my letter weighed that much! So I went back and forth a few screens, then banged on the scale, thinking it got stuck and thought there was more weight on it than there really was. Meanwhile a giant line is forming behind me, and most people probably think I’ve lost it.
Someone finally pointed out to me that the “1 lb” that I thought I was seeing was actually the letters L and B in lowercase. I had thought the L was a 1. This happens in Courier font, the selected font for the Automated Postal Center scale screen. Oops.
Needless to say, I felt pretty dumb about it. But it sure will make me think very carefully about font selection on my next UI!
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