Legibility of typefaces and preferences of text/background color variations in virtual environment

Abstract

Text legibility is an important and influential aspect of multimedia, not only on usual multimedia reading devices (displays, tablets, and mobile phones) but also in three-dimensional virtual environments (VE). In VEs, text can be used for many purposes in accordance with the category of experience (gaming, architectural visualization, exhibition, education). Font type used can deteriorate the VE experience if the user has to strain his eyes so that he may correctly read what has been written. The purpose of this research is to examine different fonts in order to determine which properties of a typeface are more suitable for VE. Four different fonts have been tested in 10 font sizes at three viewing distances (5, 10, and 15 meters). Times New Roman as a representative of serif fonts, Helvetica as a non-serif font, Caveat as a representative of handwritten fonts, and Roboto as a font for digital use, initially developed for the Android operating system. Different typographic characteristics of fonts significantly affect readability in VE. Additionally, was explored how the color of the text and the background color influence text readability in 20 combinations. It is known that the relationship between text color and background color affects readability. Since VR is a relatively new medium, we wanted to determine which relationship between colors of text and background is the best and whether it follows some rules present on the web. The colors of the text were black and white, and the colors of the background were black, white and gray, red, green, pastel green, blue, pastel blue, yellow, pastel orange, and pastel pink. Results regarding text color/background color have shown that most participants preferred black text on white background, black text on a gray background, and white text on a pastel orange background. On the contrary, participants rated white text on a yellow background as the least preferable combination, accompanied by white text on a pastel green background.