Sans Forgetica - The Font to Remember!

[Tom Wood]

Sans Forgetica - A new font designed to help reader retention:



https://www.dw.com/en/sans-forgetica-the-new-font-that-helps-your-memory/a-45765663

http://sansforgetica.rmit/

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Saw this mentioned on the BBC world news.

[ImaWriter]

Sans Forgetica - A new font designed to help reader retention:



https://www.dw.com/en/sans-forgetica-the-new-font-that-helps-your-memory/a-45765663

http://sansforgetica.rmit/

I'm pretty sure if I came across that I would be Sans ImOuttaHere. There would be no chance to gather anything to retain. At least in my case.   

[Post-Doctorate D]

No licensing information that I can find.  Until they have a license agreement for it, I wouldn't use it for anything other than personal use.  That means no book covers or anything commercial.

[RappaDizzy]

It may help my memory but its gotta get past my eyes first

[Superchaise]

If they're going for a fancy French name, "Sans Lisibilité" would be fitting. Actually, no, "Au Secours" would be best

[RPatton]

The font was designed based on a study where they found they tested typefaces in a classroom test setting.  Although I am sure people will be jumping on it to use it, they shouldn't.  A test taker is already primed to concentrate, a reader isn't.

[Tom Wood]

The font was designed based on a study where they found they tested typefaces in a classroom test setting.  Although I am sure people will be jumping on it to use it, they shouldn't.  A test taker is already primed to concentrate, a reader isn't.

The reason this story about this font caught my eye is because of this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf

"When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age."

The author of that article in The Guardian has done a lot of research on the subject, and does propose methods to slow the reader so they can process what they are reading.

https://www.maryannewolf.com/

[RPatton]

The font was designed based on a study where they found they tested typefaces in a classroom test setting.  Although I am sure people will be jumping on it to use it, they shouldn't.  A test taker is already primed to concentrate, a reader isn't.

The reason this story about this font caught my eye is because of this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf

"When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age."

The author of that article in The Guardian has done a lot of research on the subject, and does propose methods to slow the reader so they can process what they are reading.

https://www.maryannewolf.com/

And all those things are great for academia. In fact, that's what it was designed for; students and retaining information while studying.

The goal of typefaces in books isn't about retraining information while studying, it's to fade into the background so that the reader can escape into the words on the page. It's definitely interesting, but I would say it really isn't something to consider for commercial, or even literary fiction. In some cases it might be useful for non-fiction, but they would be the rare exception.

But all that is moot, since as near as I can tell the license is only for personal use. However, out of curiosity, I sent a message to RMIT asking for clarification on the licenses, since the download doesn't come with one.

[Tom Wood]

I understand what you are saying. I was just making a connection between the intent of the font's designers and what Wolf claims to be a larger problem. Wolf proposes that children 5 and under not be allowed to use digital readers at all, and that 6-10 year olds be allowed very limited use. Why? Because those ages are developmental, and she thinks skim-reading damages their minds. She also attaches skim-reading in the older populace to the decline of political sophistication in the society at large, and to the ability of charlatans to mislead. I imagine that the academics who invented the font have similar concerns, and see it as a step toward a cure.

[Laughing Elephant]

I think it might also be useful in some medical fields, such as those with memory loss, dementia and so forth.

Having the brain work harder is good and may help. 

As for actual reading in a product such as books etc, the font might be fun for jokes and word puzzles perhaps.

[dgcasey]

I downloaded it and took a look. It's interesting, but I can't see doing much with it. Maybe some covers in a couple of genres, but that would be about it. And as one poster said, I wouldn't do anything with it publicly until there is some sort of license information.

[JRTomlin]

Sans Forgetica - A new font designed to help reader retention:



https://www.dw.com/en/sans-forgetica-the-new-font-that-helps-your-memory/a-45765663

http://sansforgetica.rmit/

I'm pretty sure if I came across that I would be Sans ImOuttaHere. There would be no chance to gather anything to retain. At least in my case.   

This

[JRTomlin]

I understand what you are saying. I was just making a connection between the intent of the font's designers and what Wolf claims to be a larger problem. Wolf proposes that children 5 and under not be allowed to use digital readers at all, and that 6-10 year olds be allowed very limited use. Why? Because those ages are developmental, and she thinks skim-reading damages their minds. She also attaches skim-reading in the older populace to the decline of political sophistication in the society at large, and to the ability of charlatans to mislead. I imagine that the academics who invented the font have similar concerns, and see it as a step toward a cure.

This is a fine example of Confirmation Bias. "I hate it, so it must be the cause of all the problems in the world. Ebooks are the reason Trump was elected in the US, Brexit passed in the UK, and Macron won in France. And before ebooks, charlatans never cheated anyone. Obviously."

 

[Tom Wood]

I understand what you are saying. I was just making a connection between the intent of the font's designers and what Wolf claims to be a larger problem. Wolf proposes that children 5 and under not be allowed to use digital readers at all, and that 6-10 year olds be allowed very limited use. Why? Because those ages are developmental, and she thinks skim-reading damages their minds. She also attaches skim-reading in the older populace to the decline of political sophistication in the society at large, and to the ability of charlatans to mislead. I imagine that the academics who invented the font have similar concerns, and see it as a step toward a cure.

This is a fine example of Confirmation Bias. "I hate it, so it must be the cause of all the problems in the world. Ebooks are the reason Trump was elected in the US, Brexit passed in the UK, and Macron won in France. And before ebooks, charlatans never cheated anyone. Obviously."

 

Could be. I wrote to Wolf and asked her to reverse the thought process - Instead of changing the format of the reading media, how should/could the prose itself be changed to enhance comprehension. She said she didn't understand the question. I didn't know how to pose it more clearly, so I didn't follow up.

[ragdoll]

offside, but I didn't realize Total Recall was based on a PK Dick story.

[Al Macy (aka TromboneAl)]

The thing about that font is ... uh ... what was it? ... never mind.

[guest153]

As others have said, if you're doing it in an academic context where people are forced to read something for class, then maybe it will work. But when you're talking about books read for pleasure, aesthetic is extremely important. And the aesthetic of this font is just ugly. Maybe it does help with retention, I don't know, but at first glance, it looks either like corrupted text.

Most readers would probably take one look at the sample, go "WTF is this crap?" and then go find another book (while also possibly reporting your book for poor formatting).