iPhone vs. Android: The Porsche and the Winnebago

Is that text above, or is it the result of a smallest printing head
competition?

I think publications that think too much of themselves use excessively small
font sizes in order to be less approachable. It’s part of a series of
techniques for being “too hard to get into” that pseudo intellectuals (and
unfortunately many real ones as well) use to appear important.

The less approachable it is the more valuable it is. Boarding school. The
Mason temple. 4.5 pixel fonts. Same story.

Examples:

1. Dense writing. If you write to be impressive, so that you must be
   trained to even parse the dung–you have failed as a communicator and you
   are likely hiding a lack of interesting content.

2. Use of nauseating vocabulary. Again, if you’re trying to impress with
   your choice of words rather that their content, you’ve failed.

3. Small fonts. See screenshot above.

4. Pay walls. Acting like people should have to pay to read your stuff,
   because you’ve got five degrees, is the opposite of academia. It’s the
   opposite of learning for the benefit of others. It’s the opposite of
   good.

If you have something valuable to say, say it plainly. Use 7-dollar words
when they serve a purpose–not just to show that you have them. And for the
love of god–make the text legible.