The effect of style and typography on perceptions of document tone

Abstract

This work presents a study of the effect of stylistic and typographic elements, such as passive voice, personal pronouns, and letter spacing, on readers' perceptions of document tone. The study was administered as an online survey that asked participants to rate the formality of text passages that exemplified a particular style or typographic condition. Results indicated that active voice, personal pronouns, verb contractions, and informal punctuation cause texts to be perceived as significantly more informal in tone.