The printed word has been around for a long time. Bet you thought there was nothing new in how we put words together in a book or website. Well, guess again. Researchers at Asymmetrica have drawn upon a tried and true memory strategy called “chunking” and applied it to – get this – the amount of white space between words. Would we be able to improve literacy if we ever so slightly adjusted the amount of space between words so that it better reflected our everyday speech patterns? Psychologist Chris Nicholas has been tinkering with these word spaces and I think you’ll be surprised at what he’s doing. Would you believe a lot of this technique also depends upon the fovea in your eye? (turns out that was worth learning about).
And if you’re a blogger or marketer you might be surprised to learn that Nicholas’ team has done some research on how their technique of adjusting spacing between words can actually increase the conversion rate of your posts (CRO).
Asymmetrica has created a text format that meaningfully improves reading comprehension. Our software service, Asym, precisely adjusts the spaces between words. Asym Spacing improves personal reading comprehension, speed, and enjoyment 10-40%. The same technology provides a 10-40% lift across conversion funnels, web engagement, advertisement click-through rates, direct mail, and other content by improving how readers’ brains render text.
Resources on Asymmetrica
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- Article from FastCompany website: Can More White Space Solve The Web’s Readability Problems?
- Interesting site that explains the idea of chunking: How Chunking Helps You Fit Puzzle Pieces Together While Learning
Toby
November 15, 2016Love it. We don’t all dress the same, usually – unless we’re forced to wear uniforms or something, so why type with the same static spaces between words.