New font designed for readers with dyslexia

We’ve seen several typeface innovations in recent years, including fonts that save ink, fonts that mimic your face and fonts that can be created from scratch. What we hadn’t seen until just recently, however, is a font designed specifically for those with dyslexia. Sure enough, however, Dutch design firm StudioStudio has created a typeface that can be read by dyslexics more easily and with fewer errors. Recognizing that dyslexics tend to rotate letters as well as mix them up, Dyslexie incorporates numerous features to help keep such problems from occurring. Letters are made to look heavier at the bottom by virtue of thicker lines, for instance, making it easier to recognize their true orientation. The differences among letters — such as their openings, extensions and slant — are also exaggerated to make distinguishing them easier. Capital letters and punctuation, meanwhile, are rendered in bold to make the beginnings and endings of sentences more clear. The result of those changes to Dyslexie’s letters, as well as adjustments to the spacing and layout, StudioStudio says, is better reading, confirmed by independent research results. The video below explains the premise in more detail:

With so much design work focusing on creating aesthetically pleasing results, it’s often easy to forget the power of design to help with accessibility for those with difficulties such as dyslexia. Others working in design, how can you lend a helping hand? Spotted by: Andrea Thorn