Design with Dyslexia in Mind
In this post: An introduction to the relationship between design and dyslexia, and how we, as designers, can create work that is more accessible to the neurodiverse amongst us.
Handwritten by my friend, Jonathan, a dyslexic.
As I’ve progressively become more invested in designing with diversity in mind; I can’t help simultaneously also becoming very aware of how my years of education never even grazed the considerations we could keep in mind for the dyslexic readers amongst us.
Everything (and every time) we design, we are designing with a specific group of people in mind. Our target audience dictates our decisions. Think cute and colorful for kids. Or approachable and trustworthy for an accountancy firm, etc.
The difference is; dyslexia is not limited to any one such target audience.
While you can’t be both elderly and a toddler, you can certainly be elderly and dyslexic. So with about 15–20% of the population display symptoms of dyslexia, why is it we aren’t taught how to make our designs accessible to such a significant part of the population?
If you’ve asked yourself this question and wish to learn about the relationship between design and dyslexia, I invite you to keep reading!
Suggestions to keep handy
Ask someone with dyslexia!
Preferably, more than one someone! Did you know there are different types of dyslexia people struggle with? Ask 2 to 3 friends, peers, or acquaintances who struggle with dyslexia if they are willing to review the legibility of your projects. The best feedback comes from the source and I promise you they will appreciate you for considering their needs.
Consider your font choices.
Recent studies are proving that some fonts are easier to read than others. But be careful about jumping onto Google and grabbing any font labeled as ‘good for dyslexia’. While the intention may be pure, some of the suggestions can make things worse.
You will often find the font Dyslexie for instance, referred to as the best font for dyslexia. While this is not wrong, because Christian Boer created this font specifically for people with dyslexia, when people make these lists without digging a little further, they often forget to mention that this font is actually made for a very specific type of dyslexia. And so while it may help a portion of this group, a dyslexic peer has personally told me that she finds this font jarring and that it makes her own symptoms worse.
Another font that has been specifically designed for dyslexia, Lexie Readable is a font I have used in projects myself, and so far has been received well. It is free to download for personal, educational, and charity use. It has features like non-symmetrical B and D letters, and other letters such as A and G are styled how we would normally handwrite them, which appears to help dyslexic readers tell the letters apart more easily.
The most common problems for dyslexic people are letter swapping, mirroring, and merging. This means any font with similar-looking letters or serifs will be harder to read. It’s also not recommended to underline or italicize your words. It just creates visual clutter. Bolding, however, gets the green light.
Don’t capitalize all your letters. Or Do. Honestly, this is a curious one. I read in an article that all caps can blend the letters together. Friends with dyslexia have told me they prefer all caps. If in doubt, go back to point No.1.
Go a little bigger (12pt and up) and a little wider both in kerning and leading. Kill the Serif. Stick to Sans Serif / Slab fonts as these tend to have simple, clearly defined letters and don’t overlap.
You don’t even need to look far. Arial ticks all the boxes and comes preinstalled with your computer, while you can slap more recent rollouts such as Google’s Open Sans onto any print, web, or mobile projects for free with optimal legibility.
I’ll talk more specifically about fonts in a future blog post.
Arial is a visually uniform font that many with dyslexia find easier to read.
White Space, But not White
Make white space your best friend. White space gives text breathing room which is great for our purpose here! If you have full control of the body copy; put information hierarchy to good use and divide the text into small chunks.
However, something I’ve learnt recently is to substitute an all-white background for a soft colour hue. Reading is awfully tiring for dyslexics. So all white pages (and especially glossy finishes in print) can be disruptive. Stay away from patterns and heavy backgrounds too.
That’s all for now, but you can expect to hear more from me on this subject in the future! I’ll leave you with some great sources to visit:
International Dyslexia Association
European Dyslexia Association
Six Different Types of Dyslexia
Regards,
Krysta x