New typeface designed specifically for people with dyslexia
Ten percent of the world's population has dyslexia which makes it hard to read. Now, a graphic designer from the Netherlands has created a font that makes it easier for people with dyslexia to read.
Christian Boer, a graduate of Utrecht Art Academy, was inspired to create the typeface by his own struggles with dyslexia. Boer designed a new font called Dyslexie that addresses these design issues, and one publisher has already published 40 books using it.
The font looks a lot like a typical typeface, but is designed so that the difference between each character is more pronounced.
"When they're reading, people with dyslexia often unconsciously switch, rotate and mirror letters in their minds," Boer told Dezeen. "Traditional typefaces make this worse, because they base some letter designs on others, inadvertently creating 'twin letters' for people with dyslexia."
Boer first developed the typeface for his final thesis project at the Utrecht Academy of Art back in 2008, and it has since been put through its paces by researchers at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Twente.
Their studies found that 84% of readers could read text in the Dyslexie font faster than a standard typeface, while 77% reported fewer mistakes.
How does this font work then? As explained by the video posted below by Dyslexie, although a "b" and a "q" are different letters, they mirror a "p" and "d" when placed next to one another -- a sight that could challenge someone with dyslexia.
"Dyslexia crosses racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines, and with proper instruction and accommodations, it can be remediated," the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity notes. "However, the diagnosis and treatment remains elusive in public schools, and even more so in urban school populations, African-American and Latino communities."
