Source: The Guardian.

Thu 4 Oct 2018

Australian researchers say they have developed a new tool that could help students cramming
for exams – a font that helps the reader remember information.

Melbourne-based RMIT University’s behavioural business lab and design school teamed up to
create “Sans Forgetica”, which they say uses psychological and design theories to aid memory
retention.

About 400 university students have been involved in a study that found a small increase in the
amount participants remembered – 57% of text written in Sans Forgetica compared with 50%
in a plain Arial.

Typography lecturer Stephen Banham said the font had an unusual seven-degree back slant to
the left and gaps in each letter.

“The mind will naturally seek to complete those shapes and so by doing that it slows the
reading and triggers memory,” Banham told the Guardian.

Senior marketing lecturer Janneke Blijlevens said the concept of “desirable difficulty”
underpinned the font’s design.

“When we want to learn something and remember it, it’s good to have a little bit of an
obstruction added to that learning process because if something is too easy it doesn’t create a
memory trace,” she told the Guardian. “If it’s too difficult, it doesn’t leave a memory trace
either. So you need to look for that sweet spot.”

The font was designed with year 12 students cramming for exams in mind but could also be
used to help people studying foreign languages and elderly people grappling with memory
loss.

Blijlevens is keen to test the font in other contexts such as proofreading.

Banham, who has created about 20 fonts, said the typeface would be best used for short
texts.

“God no, you wouldn’t want novels printed in it, it would probably induce a headache,” he
said.

The font took about six months to develop and there were three different versions tested.
 1. Introduction: What are some good ways to remember things?

2. Focus on Vocabulary:
letters and numbers in a particular design, used in printing or on a
computer screen
to improve or increase something
to study hard in order to learn a lot in a short time
simple in design, with no decoration
the angle at which something slopes
to try to find or get something
to support or reinforce something such as a wall or idea
an optimum point or combination of factors or qualities.
to fight with someone or something
to be enthusiastic about something
to find and correct mistakes in text before it is printed or put online
a long printed story about imaginary characters and events

3. Read for Gist: Reading only the headline, what do you think the article is going to be
about, and why is the headline, and vocabulary above, a bit difficult to read?

4. Read for Detail:

a. Which two departments developed the font?
b. How much better could your memory be using this font?
c. The font isn’t vertical, what angle is it?
d. What grade of students was the font originally designed for?
e. What kind of people could this font help?
f. The font has been tested in proofreading. True / False
g. Would it be a good idea to read Harry Potter in this font? why / why not?

5. Follow up Task:
Discussion: Do you think that if you use this font a lot it won’t be difficult to read, and so your
memory won’t improve?