It might not be pretty, but a Dutch graphic designer believes that a new font he’s developed can help people with dyslexia read more easily.
Graphic designer Christian Boer developed the typeface, called Dyslexie, back in 2008. And while it isn’t the first font created specifically to help dyslectics, it may be the first backed up by some scientific evidence that suggests it works.
New easy to read font “Dyslexie” for people with dyslexiaA recent study by researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands found the font helped to decrease the number of errors dyslectics made when reading.
Millions of people worldwide are affected by dyslexia, a language-based learning disability that causes problems in reading, spelling, writing and even pronouncing words.
There is no consensus on how many people have the condition, but estimates range from 10 to 20 per cent of the population.
Many people mistakenly believe that those with dyslexia read words backwards. In fact, what they are more likely to do is mix up and switch letters, especially ones that look similar.
For the average dyslectic, many of the letters in the Latin-based alphabet look frustratingly alike.
At least eight letters, for example, are based on the letter “o” with various “tails.” The letters “b,” “d,” “p,” “q,” “g,” “a,” and even “c” and “e” can be easily mixed up by someone with learning disability.
For reasons not well understood, dyslectics have a tendency to rotate or flip letters in their minds. One theory is that dyslectics have a functional problem in a part of the brain called “the magnocellular visual pathway.” This pathway helps process visual information in the brain – specifically, movement.
Perhaps because of deficits in the sensitivity of the magnocellular pathways, a dyslectic person may see letters moving over each other.
The font “Dyslexie” works to help stop those with dyslexia from moving letters by visually “weighing down” those that are easily rotated.
The underside of the letters is distinctly bolder and fatter. The ascenders on letters like “h” and “d” are lengthened, so that it’s easier to distinguish the letter “h” from the letter “n,” for example. And some letters are tilted a little bit, to distinguish them further.
The openings in the letters are increased, so that it’s easier to distinguish an “e” from an “o”, for example, and the “bellies” of such letters as “b” and “d” are “dented” as well.
Also, the overall spacing between the letters is widened and punctuation marks are bolder so it’s easier to tell when sentences end and new ones begin.
Boer, who has dyslexia himself, created the Dyslexie font as a personal project while he was a student in 2008, using his own ideas about how to “fix” the letters to make them easier to read. In a recent interview with Fast Company’s Co.Design, he said refining the design of some of the letters was painstaking: the comma took four hours to perfect, for example, while the letter “a” took more than 12 hours.
Dt. T. van Leeuwen, a researcher from the University of Twente, contacted Boer in 2009, asking to conduct a study on the font. Van Leeuwen’s study, published in December, recruited 43 students, 21 of whom had dyslexia, and asked them to perform two reading tests.
The tests involved reading as many words as possible out loud and then recording how many errors were made. Some of the words were written in the standard sans serif font Arial (font size 14), while others were written in Dyslexie.
The researchers had expected that the dyslectics would read faster using the Dyslexie font; in fact, they didn’t. But they did make slightly fewer errors in their reading compared to when they were reading using the Arial font.
The dyslectics were also more likely than the normal reader to say they liked the “Dyslexie” in a questionnaire following the study. But they didn’t say they would necessarily be more likely to use the font.
“One of the most given explanations is that the font “Dyslexie” would not be accepted by teachers or other students,” the researchers write.
Boer is now attempting to market the font through his website, Studiostudio – which of course appears in Dyslexie font. The font is being marketed to schools and businesses for between 145 and 1,900 euros.