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Re:Beyond Helvetica: The Real Story Behind Fonts in iOS 7 by Steko on Monday July 08, 2013 @05:02PM (#6009271)
"virtually unreadable"

The tendency among typography enthusiasts to label all sorts of things unreadable or illegible has descended into farce.

Re:Beyond Helvetica: The Real Story Behind Fonts in iOS 7 by ctidd on Monday July 08, 2013 @07:23PM (#6010072)
Legibility and readability are technical terms in the field of typography.

From what I've seen, the new iOS typography is adequately legible, but somewhat lacking in readability. To proclaim similar descriptions -- which might or might not be exaggerated -- fascicle is very condescending toward typographers and other design professionals.

When people go further in their negative characterizations, the terms stop being used so technically. To call type completely unreadable or illegible is generally an intentional overstatement, and it's understood as such by members of the design community.

It's like calling code shit. Is it literally shit? No -- but saying it is doesn't make a developer incompetent or even wrong. It's a clearly contextual statement, and it's rightly interpreted as such. Please give typographers some credit and don't assume we're somehow overreacting.