3 ms·
A Typeface Designed to Help Dyslexics Read
- saidajigumi 12y agoI've recall some prior attempts along these lines. This one is distinguished by having some research backing up its effectiveness: Boer says that independent studies[1] from the University of Twente and the University of Amsterdam back up his claims that Dyslexie helps both children and adults with dyslexia to read faster and with fewer errors. I wonder how far the typeface optimization approach can go towards helping dyslexics? [1] http://www.dyslexiefont.com/en/dyslexia-font/research/ http://www.dyslexiefont.com/en/dyslexia-font/research/
- robert_tweed 12y agoWhat stands out to me is the apparent "quirkiness", which could be compared to Comic Sans. I built a website a few years ago that used Comic Sans, quite correctly. How can that ever be so, you ask? It turns out that children under 10 are more likely to engage with content presented in Comic Sans than "plain" fonts. Seeing this, I can't help but wonder if someone could design a quirky, "fun" font specifically to appeal to children, which incorporates the same ideas used here - perhaps exaggerated even further. Undiagnosed dyslexia is a significant cause of children falling behind at school, so there's a lot of potential benefit in getting that design right and then producing learning materials with it. As is, this could even be used as an simple test for dyslexia, by A/B testing quizzes of roughly the same difficulty, presented in different fonts. Children whose scores differ significantly should be given a more thorough test for dyslexia.