In the past several years many designers have take to present phone numbers in a format with dots. For example: 206.555.1212. But I have no idea why they do this. It is difficult to recognize as a phone number. This dotted format - at quick glance - looks more like an IP address than a telephone number. So I ask, which group of numbers below is more easily recognized as a phone number to you?

(206) 850-9798
206-850-9798
206.850.9798

I’d argue day and night that (206) 555-1212 is the easiest to recognize format.

Aside from human recognition, some applications (like Microsoft Outlook 2003) won’t recognize 206.555.1212 as a phone number. This led me to check in with the Microformats folks to see if they had a specification or a standard format for phone numbers. Unfortunately, their list of Microformats doesn’t turn up anything for phone numbers. vCards are as close as they get.

Looking past function for a moment consider the aesthetics of the three options above. The (206) 555-1212 format is much more beautiful and elegant. It has subtle curves in the parenthesis, more white space overall and a clear call to locality (that is, separating the area code from the local number).

Do you feel as strongly about using 206.850.9798 as I do about using (206) 555-1212? Tell me why in the comments below. If we end up getting any comments on this (especially from non-American viewers who have different phone number formats) then we’ll have to expand the discussion to include international telephone number formats.

Are you a designer looking for work? If so, contact me; I’m looking for talented designers.

We’ll work with large, high profile clients like Microsoft, Intergraph, Online Resources, vFinance and Universal Records. On occasion we’ll also work with smaller, local businesses, indie bands and startups. In all cases we’ll design creative, custom web sites and web apps tailored to the needs of our clients and their users. You need to be a mid level+ web designer with min 2 to 3 years experience creating user-centered web sites & apps. This is a contract position that can lead to employment.

For the past 12 years Goldman Design has been one person, Kevin Goldman. I’ve worked solo and have sub contracted designers on occasion. Now the time has come to expand and bring in key designers on contract that could eventually become design directors as the company grows.

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