Keep it Large and Legible. Readability, and as a result cognition, is greatly affected by the size, style, and spacing of type. Specific principles related to type are detailed in the section on graphic design, but a general psychological principle is that the act of reading itself should not put additional demands on the reader. If it does, the amount of short-term memory available for assimilating new information is reduced. Apart from considerations of type, graphic information should be divided with visual clarity, and not simply pedagogical clarity, in mind.