I am no expert on these matters, but I suffer from a very mild form of dyslexia myself, and can tell you that lowercase b and p are my biggest problem (not so with uppercase B and P)...for what that's worth.

> hi nick,

That's because most typefaces use symetry in the characters. I know that this is one of the main reasons that dyslexic's have trouble with modern typefaces.

www.dyslexic.com
www.readregular.com

> hi,

I am already farmiliar with readregular.com, but I was potentially looking at finding something with a little more technical information on typography and Dyslexia.

But I have not stumbled across dyslexic.com before, I will give it a try.

Thanks alessandro.

http://www.tiresias.org/index.htm

... is another possibility. I'm having trouble navigating on their site right now, but they designed a family of typefaces for the visually impaired. Not the same as Dyslexia, I know, but a similar problem.

There might have been a thread here on typophile about dyslexia; I seem to remember reading something about it. The key issue was creating dis-uniformity (ie, changing d,b,q,p so they weren't reflections of each other) without ruining the "color" of the face.

try a search on typophile. I've never been able to get the regular search to work; click on the "advanced search" link.

Jay

> www.dyslexic.com/database/articles/fonts.html

> thanks very much jay, I'll check it out...

I designed a dyslexia friendly typeface in three versions as part of my MA in Typeface Design at The University of Reading, 2004. Here's a PDF of my specimen booklet:

Grover specimen booklet SCastle_Grover5.pdf (215.0 k)

> Hi sally, thanks very much for the pdf-it's going to be of great use to my research. Maybe we can exchange typefaces when I complete my project. Also I was wondering if you might be able to give me some advice about Reading? I'm very interested in the course and am seriously considering applying there-if there's anything regarding grade requirements and preferred design background you can let me know, I'd be even more grateful! Cheers.

Leigh

Hello Leigh,

I applaud your impulse to assist the dyslexic. Reading's typography program is an excellent place to further your typographic studies.

My general feeling, after viewing the samples from the Read Regular campaign, is that the field of dyslexia is not lacking in caring, observant people who wish to improve the environment of dyslexics. What is in short supply is deep typographic expertise, the sort which is accompanied by an ability to understand and refine shapes, proportions, details, and spacing of a typeface to have real impact on the ambiguity issues dyslexics face. Please do avail yourself of any and all typographic resources you can find. But I strongly urge you to advance your typographic awareness before attempting to solve this highly specialized and typographically demanding problem.

Specifically, I suggest you make it a challenge to yourself to investigate the unfortunate misconception that different letters in a typeface are exactly symmetrical. To determine this, you might start with those typefaces which have already proven to foster comfortable, extended reading: Caslon, Garamond, Dante, Bembo, Hoefler Text, etc. Why not begin with typefaces that ordinary readers already prefer? Surely there is something in general reading comprehension that favors differentiation of letter shapes.... Note that the symmetry attributed is simply not present. In these typefaces, it's only the most basic skeleton of the letters b and d that are ambiguous. Will reducing them to those skeletons somehow reduce ambiguity?...

What about Sans Serif faces? Why have they been seen as less suitable for extended reading (they have)? Are there more and less ambiguous Sans Serif typefaces (compare Helvetica and Legacy Sans, for example)? Are the least ambiguous Sans faces more or less ambiguous than the least ambiguous serif faces?... How about for extended reading?

Can you assess the ambiguity of various existing typefaces to find the essential features of letterforms that ensure differentiation? Would maximizing those features (tails, counter shapes, serifs, ascenders, etc.) result in leaps in the reading comfort and comprehension of dyselxics? It requires testing, refining and testing again, with dyslexics, to determine which features are truly helpful and which are simply assumed by designers or by academics to be necessary. Throw out established assumptions!

Are specialists in comprehension, dyslexia and learning able to grasp these concepts? Sally Castle's excellent report suggests not! Perhaps this area demands more attention....

Sally's test results are inconclusive. There should be more complete, thorough, and typographically sophisticated testing between various typefaces before issues like this can be resolved, and this may require resources. Can you devote several years to collecting data on reading preferences, either in control groups or among the dyslexic?

Which are useful, meaningful typefaces to compare? Clue: Helvetica and Comic Sans are not on the short list....

Perhaps the ideal typeface for dyslexics is under your nose. Do not discount this possibility. Conversely, the ideal typeface for dyslexics might actually be much less conservative, less simplified, and more fluid and expressive than anyone has yet attempted in a text typeface (that's TEXT typeface). The Greek lowercase is highly differentiated and each letterform is distinct. Can this quality be borrowed from Greek to help reduce ambiguity?

I propose that it is typographers and typeface designers whose input is needed at this point to discover the most benefit for dyslexic readers. Apply your attention to this area, and no doubt you will find unexpected insight, while advancing typographic research. In the best of worlds, you may discover typefaces that not only foster reading among dyslexics, but improve the reading environment for all.

Best of luck,

Carl Crossgrove

> You need to contact Gerry Leonidas who runs the course also look at http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~lts98gl/ tells more about the course - which I did part-time over two years and really enjoyed!