I CONSIDERED WRITING THIS BLOG POST IN ALL CAPS but quickly reconsidered. It was harder to read, wasn't it? Seemed like I was yelling? It took up more space too - approximately 35% more space according a 1955 study by Miles Tinker. Miles coincidentally also noted that his study participants took far longer to read all-capital text than they did for lower case.
Exactly forty years later (the world of capitalization seems as slow to evolve as the world of unisex scrubs), Colin Wheildon conducted another scientific study on "all-caps" and concluded that "Headlines set in capital letters are significantly less legible than those set in lower case."
In the advent of internet communication, ALL-CAPS has even become the text equivalent of shouting. So with hard to read, sort of rude, and takes up more space staked against it, why do we still use all-capital text?
For most, all-caps are a way to provide emphasis or clarity. In the case of embroidery, I'd venture to say the reason is mostly to ensure that letters are not misinterpreted and mistakes are not made. But on top of those aforementioned flaws, all-capital text doesn't look that great embroidered on a beautiful, professional, and sophisticated lab coat. Our script fonts, especially, do not translate well into all-capital text, as the pictures show.
As a company that truly does care about its customers, we go to great lengths to ensure that your garment is as perfect as possible. For that reason, when we see an embroidery request submitted with all-capital text, we tend to contact the customer to make sure it's what they wanted. 9 times out of 10, the customer was just trying to ensure that their name was not misspelled. The trouble with this is that once we flag an order for clarification, it gets taken off the projected timeline - delaying completion and shipment beyond what was stated at the time of the order.
We don't want anyone having to wait longer than necessary for any product they purchase from us, so it's important to enter your embroidery requests EXACTLY (all-caps for emphasis!) as you wish it to appear on your coat, including capitalization, punctuation, etc...
If you're not sure or you're worried about something not being clear, then give us a call! We're always happy to help - we embroider hundreds of garments every day, and as our embroidery liason, Cindy, might say, we've become 'Gurus' on the subject of what looks stunning and what doesn't.
For most, all-caps are a way to provide emphasis or clarity. In the case of embroidery, I'd venture to say the reason is mostly to ensure that letters are not misinterpreted and mistakes are not made. But on top of those aforementioned flaws, all-capital text doesn't look that great embroidered on a beautiful, professional, and sophisticated lab coat. Our script fonts, especially, do not translate well into all-capital text, as the pictures show.
As a company that truly does care about its customers, we go to great lengths to ensure that your garment is as perfect as possible. For that reason, when we see an embroidery request submitted with all-capital text, we tend to contact the customer to make sure it's what they wanted. 9 times out of 10, the customer was just trying to ensure that their name was not misspelled. The trouble with this is that once we flag an order for clarification, it gets taken off the projected timeline - delaying completion and shipment beyond what was stated at the time of the order.
We don't want anyone having to wait longer than necessary for any product they purchase from us, so it's important to enter your embroidery requests EXACTLY (all-caps for emphasis!) as you wish it to appear on your coat, including capitalization, punctuation, etc...
If you're not sure or you're worried about something not being clear, then give us a call! We're always happy to help - we embroider hundreds of garments every day, and as our embroidery liason, Cindy, might say, we've become 'Gurus' on the subject of what looks stunning and what doesn't. 
