Emotional Responses to Font Types and Sizes in Web Pages

Abstract

Emotions play a critical role in decision-making and behavior. Several elements in the web design combined evoke specific emotions, although typography is usually related to preferences rather than the emotion evoked. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to investigate the emotional effects of font types and sizes to support design decisions. The main stages in the study were: preparing web pages; varying the font types and sizes; carrying out a case study with 60 volunteers; statistical data analysis with various evaluative instruments to comprise emotional components (cognitive appraisals, behavioral tendencies, motor expressions and subjective feelings). From the data collected with the subjects, Arial was more closely allied to positive emotions than Times New Roman. Font size 8pt caused unpleasant experiences, with the highest number of errors. The medium and large sizes, represented by 12pt and 16pt, were mainly related to pleasant and comforting experiences. There were some differences in the findings on font types from the literature and further studies are necessary.