As Baby Boomers cross the 50-year mark, many experience the physiological changes that come with aging. Some of the most common are vision changes that impact how easily they can read your printed materials and use your Web site.

When surveyed, middle-aged consumers say that type sizes are often too small. Colors aren’t distinguishable. Fast moving objects blur. It frustrates them that they cannot easily read some information, and, in some cases, it jeopardizes their safety.

How can you make your information physically easier to read? It’s not that difficult. And as big-box retailer Target found out, it could make a life-and-death difference.

A troubling statistic

Almost 60 percent of prescription drugs are taken improperly. That disturbing finding came from a study commissioned by Target. The study only confirmed what one of the retailer’s designers, Deborah Adler, already knew from personal experience. Her grandmother had accidentally taken her grandfather’s prescription medicine and Adler knew how dangerous, even fatal that mistake could be. She was determined to redesign the decades-old amber pill bottle.

Her acclaimed ClearRX design features some of the best legibility practices. The labels are placed on a flat surface so you can read the information without turning the bottle. The larger type size and sans serif font are easier to read than smaller, serif fonts distinguished by their tails and curlicues. Information is presented in an intuitive hierarchy with the name of the medication at the top in large, capital, bold letters. On the back of the bottle are instructions and cautions in easy-to-read type. Another visual safety feature — color-coded neck rings, available in six primary colors — let consumers choose a color for each family member.

But pill bottles aren’t the only products that challenge people’s accessibility to information. Economic and ecological trends to reduce packaging are forcing many companies to pack more instructions, more cautions and more regulatory requirements in less and less space. And all of us can cite times when the type on everything from outdoor boards to PowerPoint® slides to magazine ads, Web pages or newspaper classifieds was too much work to read … so we didn’t.

Ten ways to improve legibility

What can you do to make it easier for customers and prospects to read your information? We turned to Lighthouse International, a non-profit organization that for more than 100 years has helped people of all ages who are at risk for, or are experiencing some vision loss. Here are some best practice guidelines to apply to your printed communications:

• Text should be printed with the highest possible contrast. Black on white works. However, as people age it often is easier for them to see light (white or yellow) letters on a dark (black) background for short blocks of text. Avoid contrasts of red and black; contrasting red versus green can also be problematic.

• Printed material is generally more readable in black and white. The safest colors to use for all people, including those with color blindness, are black, white, gray, followed by blue and yellow. If, for aesthetic or other reasons, you need to use different colors, use them for larger or highlighted text such as in headlines or titles. 

  Bright colors can cause an afterimage for normal-sighted people. When you place two bright colors next to each other, those afterimages can interfere with each other and create color vibration. You’ll want to avoid: red/green, blue/orange, green/magenta, yellow/cyan, magenta/blue, yellow/orange, green/blue.

You can avoid the vibration by placing a pastel or dark shade between the two brighter colors.

• People prefer 14-point to 12-point type size. A study conducted by Wichita State University (PDF) found that as people age, they could read 14-point serif or sans serif fonts easier and faster than 12-point serif or sans serif fonts. Lighthouse International recommends 16- to 18-point fonts for materials read by people with low vision or vision impairments.

• Make leading at least 120 to 130 percent of the point size. Leading is the spacing between lines of text. Keeping it at least 120 to 130 percent of the point size helps people find the beginning of the next line.

• Avoid complex, decorative or cursive fonts. If you must use them, save them for emphasis only. It’s best to use standard serif or sans serif fonts that have easily recognizable characters. If you must use a smaller type size than the reader’s visual acuity, choose a sans serif font.

• Choose Roman. Little research has been done to determine the legibility of one font over another. However there is some evidence that in printed materials a Roman font, using upper and lower cases, is more readable than italics or condensed.

• Give letters more space. As their vision changes, people often have trouble reading text when the letters are spaced too closely together. Give letters breathing room. Monospaced fonts tend to be more legible than proportionally spaced fonts.

• Widen those margins. If your material is bound, give your pages extra-wide binding margins so your readers can hold the volume flat. Spiral bindings help, too. It’s easier for Baby Boomers to use magnifying devices on flat surfaces.
• Reduce glare. Glossy stock can make it tougher to read your information. Choose low-gloss or matte-finish papers.
• Stand out. If you offer a series of books, pamphlets or publications, avoid sameness. Choose distinctive colors, sizes and cover formats to make each one stand out.

You can read more about improving print legibility in these two Lighthouse International online pamphlets:

Effective Color Contrast

Making Text Legible

Quick tips for your next presentation

Another communication media that often frustrates Baby Boomers are PowerPoint® presentations. You can apply many of the best legibility practices for printed material to your slides. The University of Texas offers these guidelines:

• Use the biggest fonts realistically possible on each slide. Small fonts are difficult to read.
• Choose sans serif. In the projection process, letters lose some of their sharpness. Sans serif fonts hold their shape better.
• Light text on a dark background is easiest to read, especially when projected. Recommended color choice: white text on a dark blue background.
• Keep the background simple. Busy backgrounds make text difficult to read.
• Avoid red. Red text is difficult to see.
• Avoid ALL CAPS. Use upper and lower case letters.

Make your Web site a champion for accessibility

As more and more people with vision difficulties and other disabilities turn to the Internet for information, Web designers are making sites more accessible. Here’s how you can make your site easier to read and use.

• Select sans serif fonts. Verdana, Arial and Helvetica make great default fonts on electronic media.
• Be color/contrast conscious. Using a bright color or textured background can add excitement to your Web page. It also can make it more difficult to read. Stick to the print guidelines above to improve legibility (dark text on light colors or very subtle textured backgrounds). Then run your site through a color-blind test. There are several sources on line, here are two:

Test color schemes

Test Web pages and images

• Keep it simple. Avoid information overload. Provide concise instructional text.
• Make links obvious and consistent. Display links, for example, with blue underlining. Increase the redundancy of your links (for example, make text and bullet links) so your readers are more likely to reach their target.
• Use standards-compliant code that is friendly for screen readers and other browser plug-ins used by visitors with disabilities.

How well do your printed materials and Web site meet these legibility best practices? Taking steps to improve your communications may not have as serious implications as changing the legibility of a prescription bottle, but those steps could lead to more sales and fewer customer service calls — and you’ll see the benefits of doing that on your bottom line.

Need better results? Designing print materials, presentations and Web sites that are easier to read is one of the business communications solutions we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your audience, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.