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Hey typographers, when designing a sans-serif display typeface, take a page from Matthew Carter's Verdanna—design it with the serifs on capital I. It is difficult to stress how much this helps with legibility. (1/n)
Let's think back to a little situation we had on Twitter: the Martha Stewart Oil Fiasco. https://mobile.twitter.com/marthastewart/status/326365867111772160?lang=en
You see, people thought Martha was saying "oil," but, for some reason, she actually typed out "oiI." Notice that, at first, I typed out "O–I–L"; Martha Stewart, however, typed out "O–I–I"—two capital "I"s.
I vaguely recall that, when people found out about this, they lost their shit. It wasn't oil, it was "oiI."
Adding subtle ques such as making the lowercase l slightly lower than the uppercase I have been used in the past; from what I have heard from various people, and confirmed with small scale, unscientific experiments, it is only partially effective.
So, typographers, please, I beg you, just put the serifs on the I. Easily legible typography quite literally has the potential to save lives—so make yours good.
