Here is an illustration from Letterletter by Gerrit Noordzij.
I may not have the proportions of the white squares to the black exact.
The idea is that when you look at this your brain does a 'gestalt switch' between seeing white squares against black one moment, and a framed cross the next.
Noordzij says "Real characters have built-in stabilizers that keep black shapes in the forground". In other words, they avoid the dazzle in this illustration.
I am interested in what you experienced type designers think of the problem of avoiding dazzle, particularly in text faces.
First of all, do you think Noordzij has it right? Is getting type to rest on the page a matter of balancing white and black? And what are your thoughts on doing it?
What would make me question whether the black/white balance is all of the story is the to me undesirable dazzle in many of the 'didone' class of type in small sizes. It seems like part of the story is just the thinness of the lines.
I was recently struck by how well Kent Lew's new face, Whitman, 'rests' on the page, at least judged by the samples on the internet. I am interested in how he and others have approached this problem.
