The Integral Approach
As mentioned, the first approach entails the second: the integral approach. A complex piece of print, the kind often seen, poses not just a problem of typesize or line width. On the contrary; in a single design, the solutions to many problems have to be found ‘simultaneously’, because typesize and other typographical aspects often interact to create a unique problem. This means that, in research, each aspect of typography should not be studied separately. Perhaps researchers need to consider that the ultimate aim of typographic design is not to optimize the usability of every single typographic aspect. This is simply impossible, because all aspects need to be balanced and optimizing some will leave a choice of non-optimal options for the other aspects. Rather than aiming to optimize all aspects of typography individually, designers look to optimize the combination of aspects. There is no harm in testing a design by considering the total effect of all aspects at once; it just means that the unique effect of one aspect can not be seperated from the effect of all other aspects. However, this is not to say that studying some aspects seperately is useless and out of the question. It was suggested earlier, for example, that survey research could be used to determine readers’ aesthetic preference of type. This could easily be studied separately and produce useful results.