Are capital letters actually hard to read?

Somewhere along the way, someone decided that using ALL CAPS in your design was a crime against readability.

But most people who tell you “CAPS ARE HARDER TO READ” don’t actually know why. They just heard it somewhere. And now it’s gospel.

So let’s question it.

First: yes, it’s true that most of us read lowercase text more quickly. But not because capital letters are inherently more difficult to process. It’s because they’re less familiar.

Reading is a learned behaviour. And we mostly learn it through lowercase books, lowercase articles, lowercase essays like this one. Your brain is just used to seeing words in that shape. So when it sees a block of all caps, it takes a second to adjust. But that second is only a problem if you overdo it.

Writing a few words in capital letters isn't harder to read. It's just harder to skim when it's in large blocks.

In the 1980s and 90s, researchers like Kenneth Paap and Keith Rayner studied how people actually process text. They found that we don’t read by recognising the shape of words (as some early theories suggested). Instead, we recognise and anticipate letters, then piece them together into meaning.

Your brain is doing fast pattern recognition, not shape-matching. Which means that yes, all caps will slow you down a little if you’re reading entire paragraphs.

But that’s not how all caps are usually used in design.

In web design, we use all caps to signal importance. To stop the scroll. To punch a headline. To say: hey, look at this FREE resource.

And that works.

I’m currently working with a mortgage client who offers a huge range of free tools and templates. So in their copy we write: “Download your FREE guide”. And this helps us to grab the attention of the user and get them to focus on what matters.

It’s the same when I worked with a business coach who had a 3-day launch window. We added a rotating banner to the top of the site that said: “SIGN UPS FOR [PROGRAMME] CLOSE IN [TIMER]”.

The all caps didn’t make it harder to read. They made it harder to ignore.

So if you’re looking to use capital letters in your design, ask yourself:

• Is the message short?

• Is it important?

• Is it competing with a lot of noise?

If yes, caps might be exactly what you need.

I personally recommend using them in:

1. Call-to-action buttons: Caps can create a clear visual break between button copy and surrounding text. Especially helpful on mobile.

2. Flash banners or deadline messages: A rotating banner that says "SIGN UPS CLOSE IN 2 HOURS" is meant to interrupt.

3. Emphasising benefits: If your product is free, say so. And say it like ‘FREE’. Nobody has time to go hunting for the good stuff.

BUT (see what I did there), I do still recommend avoiding them in:

• Long-form body text

• Anything accessibility-critical that needs to be read fast (like error messages)

• Copy aimed at neurodiverse audiences who may find it more overwhelming

Outside of that, I informally give you creative license.

Looking for more formal creative license from me? Check out my services and see how I can help you.