Information Design Journal - Volume 15, Issue 1, 2007

This study combined three research methodologies to inform the choice of a typeface for signs at London’s Heathrow Airport. The methodologies were legibility testing, qualitative consumer research, and expert review. The study showed that, contrary to a number of expert predictions, the serifed typeface performed as well as the sans serif in legibility testing. Character width was a more significant factor in legibility, with condensed sans serif performing relatively poorly. The use of multiple methodologies led to a richer basis for decision-making: the qualitative research revealed clear genre expectations among airport users for sans serif signs; the expert reviewers raised a range of additional issues of genre, culture and context.

The research questions in this study were: Is a fear appeal more effective in persuading a target group when it capitalizes on fears that live within that target group, and what role do emotions play in the persuasion process? In an experiment, the effects of capitalizing on fears within a target group of teenagers are studied. Furthermore, the role of smoking behavior on the persuasive power of fear appeals is taken into account. The results indicate that capitalizing on genuine fears did not result in more effective fear appeals. Emotions, however, play an important role in the persuasion process.

Eric Kavanagh, a professor of information design at the École des arts visuels at Laval University in Québec City, Canada, represents a new generation of information design researchers. Although young, he begins his academic career with a decade of practical experience behind him, and, therefore knows documents as more than artifacts of study; he has a first-hand knowledge of their production and use. This understanding of the importance of documents in everyday contexts, and in unique cultural contexts, drives Eric’s passion for information design as well as his research agenda. In this interview, Eric describes his background, his current work, his thoughts about the current state of the field and his hopes for the future.

An organization of pharmacists requested our services to improve the design of their printed communications to medical doctors, concerning the use of pharmaceutical drugs. Departing from a design process model developed by the Communication Research Institute of Australia, we selected an existing document, interviewed users, defined the objectives of the document, established performance benchmarks, produced a new prototype, and tested it. Results indicated that memory of the contents had improved in accuracy, and that the time required for search-and-find tasks had been substantially cut. The article describes the process followed and outlines future research to be undertaken.

In a previous study, no effects were found applying Information Mapping® (IMAP) to a relatively short text. In three new experiments, we investigated whether text length and the presence or absence of typical IMAP format features would influence possible IMAP effects, and if there would be any interaction effects of the application of the IMAP method and reader characteristics. It turned out that when presented with a relatively long text, readers worked more effectively and efficiently with an IMAP version. Adding typical IMAP format features to an otherwise unaltered conventional text did not produce greater effectiveness but did result in greater efficiency and higher appreciation. No interaction effects were found of the respondents’ linguistic background and the application of the IMAP method.