One of Sourcing Innovation’s primary goals is reader education. If you don’t learn something on a regular basis, SI is not doing its job. While some bloggers simply spread the latest gossip to come their way, the editor of Sourcing Innovation slaves over a lit keyboard day-in and day-out to make sure that fresh new insights are delivered to you on a regular basis. But has it all been for naught?
According to this recent article that asks if “this font will make you smarter” (Globe and Mail), jaunty childish font[s] will improve your memory retention, help your kids do better in school, and make your wife love you more. Seems that all the editor had to do was find some random drivel, wrap it in a Comic Sans font, and you’d be better for it.
As per the referenced article over on LiveScience.com, research conducted at Princeton University has discovered that funky fonts may help students learn. In a research project, which presented two different groups of volunteers with the same list of words (one set in a common font and the other in a funky font), the groups were distracted for 15 minutes after studying the lists for 90 seconds and then tested. The group with the funky font averaged 14 percentage points higher. Now, the research project has not yet been repeated and it was led by an undergraduate, but it was reviewed by a faculty mentor and then peer reviewed before publication in Cognition, so the study can’t be discredited with the wave of a hand. The reason for the better performance may not be understood, but the message is clear. If SI wants to make you smarter, less knowledge, more funky fonts.