On Sunday 25 Mar 2007 13:47, Adam Trickett wrote:
> On Sunday 25 March 2007 12:08, Samuel Penn wrote:
> > On Sunday 25 March 2007 11:50, Adam Trickett wrote:
> > > Now for my sins I now work in industry and I see lots of corporate
> > > slides all the time and they are almost exclusively awful:
> > >
> > > * White background
> >
> > What's wrong with a white background? I've seen people comment
> > about wanting white text on black, but I've always found black text
> > on white is *much* easier to read (the exception is terminal windows,
> > where I find coloured text on black is easier than coloured text on
> > white, and the colours provide enough useful information to make it
> > worthwhile).
> >
> > Various books on design I've read have always suggested black on
> > white as being most readable as well.
>
> Yellow text on a black background is easiest to read from a distance. Bus
> and train destination boards use to be black on a white background, but
> after some research they changed this to to yellow on black. I believe the
> RNIB carried out a study which is where the advice comes from.
> Interestingly people can read yellow on black at a distance better than
> white on black.
>
> Personally I do find yellow on black easier to read, than dark text on a
> light background. I also find that a white background shows dirt and marks
> on the board an lens that a dark background hides.
>
> I don't know if it's a resolution or distance effect, but remember that
> printed text is at a resolution of 300dpi or greater, a typical VDU is
> running at 100dpi, and a LCD projector is probably displaying text at a
> feeble 10dpi.
>
> From the RNIB:
>
> http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/visugate/public_impsi
>gnvi.hcsp
From the above: "Cream lettering on magnolia walls is difficult for anyone to
see. Use yellow illuminated letters on matt black backgrounds for good
effects; or *_for painted signs, matt surfaced black on white is good_*"
So yellow illumination (e.g. bus signs, train station announcements), but
where the text is solid, not an illumination, black on white is best. This
second is certainly my own personal experience.
Projectors are of course using light, so probably count as illuminations -
hence Adam's advice.
And, of course, in non-serif fonts. Serif fonts are harder, and therefore
slower, to read and this is relevant in a talk - one has to try to keep up.
(I rarely succeed :-( ) And on matt surfaces.
Lisi
