Typography for Rocket Scientists
NASA (PDF) (via Michael Erlewine):
The object of this report is to provide a summary of the available literature regarding the design and typographical aspects of printed matter. The report attempts “to bridge” the gap between basic research about typography, and the kind of information needed by designers of flight-deck documentation. The report focuses on typographical factors such as typefaces, character height, use of lower- and upper-case characters, line length, and spacing. Some graphical aspects such as layout, color coding, fonts and character contrast are also discussed. In addition, several aspects of cockpit reading conditions such as glare, angular alignment, and paper quality are addressed. Finally, a list of recommendations for the graphical design of flight-deck documentation is provided.
