Legibility...

In order for a piece of work to be truly legible, it needs to be clearly understood, discovered and in the case of a piece of text, capable of being read. Most typefaces and font are firstly created in order to create a statement and stand out from the crowd, to provide a message to an audience or even to create a specific sense or spirit. Despite a typeface doing such things, it always needs to be legible, and some certain fonts can lack in this. 

So what makes any typefaces clear and legible? much opposed to the idea of standing out, most legible fonts are actually looked over and unnoticeable to a reader; they don't attract unnecessary attention to themselves. Legible texts are not excessive in options such as boldness, lightness, being underlined or italic. Yet despite this, they tend to still always hold their own specific style and structure through their simplistic design.

To the right I have made my own example of some typefaces to compare what makes either one legible or not legible. To compare each typeface we need to keep in mind what the message is of the text, in this case it is promoting the idea of fashion. The first font is very undoubtably noticable to a reader, yet its boldness and actual style could be seen to be quite childish or quite tacky. The second option however is very elegant in its actual shape and style, and promotes fashion excellently. Also, it does make such a bold statement as the previous typeface, and is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Another important factor of whether a piece of information is legible or not the image that is it illustrating. This poses the question, is text needed in order for a piece of work to be understood?

This anti-smoking advert is obviously very striking and controversial. It is an effective image in the sense that it attracts attention, but without the text would it really be understood? It is not clear to see what the message is without the input of the text that states "The average smoker needs over five thousand cigarettes, get unhooked." With the addition of the text the piece of work is overall very legible and easy to understand. 

Despite this, text is not needed in order for something to be legible. The NHS advert on the left is also from an anti-smoking campaign and is promoting a similar message. However, it is quite clear what the message of this advert is without actually reading the text because of how it is presented. The unborn baby shaped is shaped by smoke, and automatically we link this to a person smoking when pregnant. The text above the image makes this clear to us, but as an audience we are automatically drawn to the image and are aware of what it is saying. Perhaps the designers of this advert are aware of this and have purposely made the text extremely small. This is a great example of a piece of work being legible without the typeface being the main attraction.