In 2012, the New York Times found that serif typefaces, like Baskerville, made statements more believable. This month, Yieldmo extended that experiment to see if it made more people tap on mobile ads.
A few years ago, the New York Times ran an experiment about fonts where participants would identify if a given statement was true or false.
The quiz was delivered in one of six typefaces: three serifs (Baskerville, Computer Modern or Georgia) or three sans-serifs (Trebuchet, Helvetica or Comic Sans).
With the only variable being the shape of the letters, the New York Times observed whether typefaces influenced the believability of statements. They found that Baskerville, a traditional serif font, made statements the most believable, while Comic Sans, a sans-serif resembling chalkboard writing, was likely to harm believability.
A test of our own
To designers, the New York Times’ results are unsurprising. It’s taught early in design education that serifs are more traditional, trustworthy, and formal with roots going back to the Roman…
