It probably has a lot to do with things like how much it looks like actual handwriting. Whether you think it's bunk or not, there are people who think they can tell a lot about your personality through handwriting analysis and there are neurological conditions that impact handwriting, so it's not just outright crazy talk to think handwriting reflects something important about the author.
So my assumption would be that to whatever degree humans associate handwriting with things like personality or personal disability, we will tend to associate those concepts with fonts that touch on similar patterns, if that makes sense. (Maybe not explained very clearly.)
Possibly. And I don't think its bunk.. but there's something with emotion tied up with fonts or handwriting. As to what it is, I have no good idea how to discern.
But again, I cannot refuse the fact that comic sans is so.. derided and laughed at. Nary a week goes by without someone guffawing at that typeface on reddit or social media.
Any ideas how to measure this? Seems like emotion is the key here.
When you look at neurological studies, emotion is tied to ability to make snap judgements. People with low affect can't make snap judgements. They lack that file that says either "I have a good feeling about this!" or "Nope!"
Emotion is basically a summary of past experience. Relying on "your gut reaction" is a bit more error prone than actually analysing it, in part because it is rooted in personal prejudice, in essence. But in a survival situation, being able to quickly go "Nope! I'm out of here!" can be the difference between life and death.
So emotion based judgements tend to be fairly strong ones. They tend to be of the "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up" variety.
So my assumption would be that to whatever degree humans associate handwriting with things like personality or personal disability, we will tend to associate those concepts with fonts that touch on similar patterns, if that makes sense. (Maybe not explained very clearly.)