Clockwise or counter-clockwise rotated text: which is easier to read?
Reading Time - 6 minNeither direction is easier to read. Every study that has tested clockwise against counter-clockwise rotated text — going back to 1956 — has failed to find a reliable difference between them. So pick by convention, not legibility: rotate counter-clockwise (reading bottom to top) for chart axis labels and vertical UI labels, and clockwise (top to bottom) for anything modelled on a UK or US book spine.