The Sans Forgetica typeface is specifically designed to improve the memory retention of readers. Developed by a multidisciplinary team at RMIT University in Melbourne, Sans Forgetica is based on a concept called desirable difficulty.
Based on a combination of cognitive psychology and design principles, the goal of desirable difficulty is to design with a balance between familiar and complex. promoting a deeper cognitive processing. Designed with gaps in the lettering while maintaining a general outline, this slows down reading and promotes a deeper cognitive processing. The typeface is also backslanted, an unconventional feature most commonly found in certain map labels.
The reader engages more by filling in blanks in the text. If a typeface is too familiar, the reader tends to skim through or only glance at the material. On the other end of the spectrum, a complex typeface would be illegible and disengaging.
Testing several prototypes with varying degrees of the backwards slant and breakages in the lettering on over 100 student participants at RMIT, the final design for Sans Forgetica was determined as the most ideal balance of desirable difficulty.
The font is available to download for free and there is also a chrome extension that enables the text on-screen to be converted to Sans Forgetica.
To learn more about Sans Forgetica, click the link below.
