CERN Results Improperly Kerned; Data Invalidated

I can’t dismiss this as a joke, because I’m aware of the vitriol that surrounds the use of Comic Sans.

CERN scientists inexplicably present Higgs boson findings in Comic Sans

For many of us, the most shocking revelation to come out of CERN’s Higgs boson announcement today was quite unrelated to the science itself. Rather, we were blown away by the fact that a team made up of some of the most undoubtedly brilliant people in the world believe that Comic Sans is an appropriate font for such a historic occasion.

The most shocking revelation? Seriously? I wonder if they all dropped their monocles in their cups of tea, simultaneously. Comic sans, the very idea! Were smelling salts required, Aunt Pittypat?

Not sure if I file this under “You can’t please everyone” or “Talk about missing the point”. (That it also goes under “Comic Sans douchebaggery” is a given). I would love it if someone had actually thought about this, and did it for the sole reason of causing typographers to have a collective fit. Not defending this as the right choice, mind you. It’s just the inevitable violation of Newton’s third law — the reaction far outweighs the action, whenever Comic Sans is involved.

Kern Like Everyone is Watching

Kern Type

Your mission is simple: achieve pleasant and readable text by distributing the space between letters. Typographers call this activity kerning. Your solution will be compared to typographer’s solution, and you will be given a score depending on how close you nailed it. Good luck!

Driving Cognitive Costs Down

Realizations of Rounded Rectangles

Time for an expert: I asked Professor Jürg Nänni, author of the exemplary Visual Perception, a book detailing our best-to-date scientific understanding of the processes involved in visual cognition. “Could rounded rectangles actually take less effort to see?”

Nänni confirmed my theory: “You are absolutely right. A rectangle with sharp edges takes indeed a little bit more cognitive visible effort than for example an ellipse of the same size. Our “fovea-eye” is even faster in recording a circle. Edges involve additional neuronal image tools. The process is therefore slowed down.”

IT’S PROBABLY ONE REASON WHY ALLCAPS is so frikkin’ annoying, too.