Tim Harford, economist and author of the book 'Messy: How To be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World' believes that ugly fonts like Comic Sans or Monotype Corsiva help you concentrate on what you are reading.

"When you get something in these fonts – it's ugly, difficult to read, and it attracts your attention. When you have your attention, then you actually start trying to understand what it says," he told Business Insider.

A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans Show all 8 1 /8 A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-7.jpg Trajan-style typeface David Sandison A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-1.jpg Write of way: Univers Bold Condensed is the font used by London's street signs David Sandison A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-2.jpg Antony Harrington, right, gives Simon Osbourne the typographic tour David Sandison A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-3.jpg Bembo lettering carved by Michael Harvey David Sandison A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-4.jpg Johnston Sans David Sandison A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-5.jpg Art Nouveau lettering in stone David Sandison A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-6.jpg David Sandison A new serif in town: The fonts used on London's signs and shops have an army of fans pg-36-fonts-8.jpg 2012 Headline (the 'London' element) David Sandison

Harford referred to a study run by psychologists at Princeton University where school teacher's handouts were reformatted in either easy to read or harder fonts.

"Those who got their handouts formatted in difficult, ugly fonts did better in their end of term exams across a variety of subjects."