Why You Should Use a Regular Font for Email

Being able to personalize your PC is a double-edged sword. Altering fonts and colors to suit your personal tastes can make an otherwise dull workday into something more tolerable, but there's a price to be paid: When it comes to email, the more fanciful the font you use, the less professional (or serious) your message is perceived as.

This may sound obvious, but it bears closer examination. And fortunately, someone has finally put this to the test scientifically.

Wichita State University recently studied the effect of font choice on the way an email is perceived by its recipient. The results are quite expected: Those who used a highly fanciful, nearly cursive font (Gigi), "was perceived to be less stable, less practical, more rebellious, and more youthful" than if the same message was sent using a more practical font. This effect was only noted for extremely poor font choices: Surprisingly, those using even the cartoonish "Comic Sans" were not seen as significantly less professional than those using standard business typefaces, though if you look at the raw data in the study, a regular font "wins" on every measurement system (unless you prefer to be seen as rebellious and impractical).

So why is this important? In any sort of professional dealing, it is desirable to be taken seriously. In a work environment, having a flashing smiley in your signature and using a purple, cursive font for the text (on a yellow background) doesn't exactly connote seriousness on your part. Your messages, consciously or otherwise, will probably find their way to the bottom of the to-do lists rather than the top, as your fanciful tone tells people you're not a real priority.

But what if you are not sending email from work? If you think about it, the same caveats apply: What if you can't log in to your favorite website? Or you need tech support urgently? Or you're sending a note to your local politician? Do you think festooning your note with flowers and flashing text are going to help or hurt your cause?

The study linked above is heavy on statistics and academic language, but check it out if you're so inclined. If not, just remember that, even in a simple email, the medium is the message. Let's be sane out there.