CHARACTERIZATION OF LETTERFORM COMPLEXITY

The properties of typefaces are a prominent element in graphic communication. Over time, distinctive features of letterforms have evolved, influenced by the technological advancements. Today, letterforms are part of typeface units which serve as means of communication and are available in various styles. Research studies regarding the typeface legibility and the effects of semantic properties of typefaces have given a considerable insight into the effects of the distinctive features of typefaces. However, the construction of typographic stimuli design in previous research was unsystematic leading to inconsistent results and understanding of the typeface distinctive features effects. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to propose a systematic method for manipulation of the typographic stimuli in research studies. The design of the typographic test samples involved detection of the universal letterform structure and manipulation of the formal attributes of typefaces. The method of perimetric complexity was used to measure the complexity of the letterforms’ formal attributes, as well as the complexity of the complete letterform. Due to diverse letterform properties, two metric systems for measuring perimetric complexity (Pelli’s algorithm and morphological components function) were chosen. The analysis of the obtained results confirmed that particular formal attributes, singular or combined, are more complex than others, that is a gradient of letterform complexity was revealed. Also, the results of the letterform characterization using the second method provide slightly more conclusive results making it possible to infer which groups of formal attributes contribute to the increase of letterforms’ complexity.