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| Sylexiad is an ongoing research project that began at Norwich School of Art and Design in January 2001. At that time there was great interest in the art and design higher education sector concerning dyslexia. It was estimated that art and design students with dyslexia could be as high as 15%1 compared to a national figure of 4% with severe characteristics2 and a further 6% with mild dyslexic characteristics. As a result of these figures I began to question my own reading difficulties, particularly my frequent misreading of texts. An educational psychologist who confirmed specific learning difficulties assessed me and diagnosed dyslexia. |
| When I started my research in 2001, the limited typographic recommendations by the dyslexia organisations tended to be for sans-serif fonts. Arial, a Microsoft version of Helvetica, designed by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders in 1992 was recommended by The British Dyslexia Association, whilst Dyslexic.com recommended Sassoon Primary, a childrenís text font designed by Rosemary Sassoon in 1984. The International Dyslexia Centre favoured the only serif font recommendation, which was for Times New Roman, a newspaper font designed by Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent in 1932. It is worth emphasising that none of these typefaces were designed specifically for the dyslexic reader. They are fonts developed by non-dyslexic designers for a non-dyslexic audience. Indeed, at that time, this was the situation with all text typeface designs. Although a number of dyslexic fonts have emerged since my research, widespread interest in dyslexia and typography can only be viewed as a relatively recent phenomenon. As such, I would argue that typographic rules and principles have consequently been framed from a literate, non-dyslexic viewpoint. |
| A key typographic principle, for example, concerns word shape. The psychologist James Cattel first proposed the word shape model in 18863. It states that lowercase letters are more legible than uppercase forms because ascenders and descenders provide greater word shape for the reader. It is the earliest recognition model in psychological literature. It has, however, been rejected by cognitive science in favour of the parallel letter recognition model which states that the letters within a word are recognised simultaneously and the letter information is then used to recognise the word4. |
| As a dyslexic reader and designer, I began to question the typographic recommendations of the dyslexia organisations. In doing so, I also questioned the established rules of typographic legibility and in particular the notion of word shape. The aim of my research was therefore to test the dyslexia typeface recommendations against my own typeface designs in order to establish the typographic characteristics dyslexic readers actually preferred and why. |
| The design process used throughout my investigation was grounded within the cognitive aspects of dyslexia, and in particular, the visual aspects of the condition. It was also initially based on word shape. The unique testing model I have devised and employed throughout the research is called developmental typeface testing. It is important to note that psychologists rather than typographic designers have conducted all studies, which have impacted on ideas concerning typographic legibility. As a result, all of their tests have been retrospective in that they always occur after the design process, never before or during. What makes developmental typeface testing unique is that rather than being an exclusively retrospective process, it has both formative and summative elements. This allows typefaces to be designed in tandem with the testing process. |
| The formative stage of the process comprised of a series of comparative test studies, which resulted in the design, development, and testing of a number of radical and experimental fonts called Dine. Dine 1 is a monocase font designed to provide each character with a distinct shape without compromising any meaning associated with that shape. This initial concept would, in theory, maximise word shape and overcome problems of letter reversals in characters such as the lowercase c, n and u and uppercase N and Z. Dine 1 was also based on a diagnostic dyslexia handwriting checklist5, which included unusual letter spacing, strange letter formations, a combination of upper and lowercase letters and an overall lack of letter fluidity. The form of Dine 1 can be viewed as being illegible. It was, however, was an appropriate starting point for the investigation as it facilitated subsequent font development into less radical and more legible forms. Dine 2 is a duocase font, which evolved as a result of the testing of Dine 1, which in turn, led to the design of Dine 3. |
| It is important to stress that the Dine fonts are not typefaces for the adult dyslexic reader. They are theoretical fonts, which have been informed by developmental typeface testing. During the formative stage, a succession of dyslexic reader groups was established at Norwich School of Art and Design. These groups provided both quantitative and qualitative data concerning a number of comparative tests involving specific text formations. The Dine fonts were tested against lowercase and uppercase forms of Arial, Sassoon Primary and Times New Roman set as individual characters (figures 1-5), words (figures 6-10), sentences and paragraphs. During each study test comparisons were made concerning the design, readability and legibility of each font. The outcomes and reader responses to a series of questions, coupled with my own experiences as a dyslexic reader helped to inform each subsequent design of the Dine fonts. |
| An analysis of the formative data attempted to highlight the differences experienced by the readers when reading different typefaces. An attempt was also made to identify the significant factors required in order to develop a preferred typeface for the adult dyslexic reader. It is interesting to note that of all the typefaces tested during the formative stage, the readers found Dine 1 (the font with most shape) to be their least favoured font. Dine 3, however, (the font with the least lowercase shape) was the readers most favoured font. The analysis also informed the design of Sylexiad, the first variant of a typeface for the adult dyslexic reader. Sylexiad has two initial forms, a serif version called Serif Sylexiad and a sans serif called Sylexiad Sans. |
| The summative phase of developmental typeface testing involved the comparative testing of the Sylexiad fonts against the other test fonts of Arial, Sassoon Primary and Times New Roman. Internal trials resumed at Norwich School of Art and Design whilst external trials were conducted at the University of East Anglia. Both trials comprised of a dyslexic group and a control (non-dyslexic) group. As with the formative testing, the summative element involved study tests with upper and lowercase texts set as individual characters, words, sentences (figures 11-15) and paragraphs (figures 16-20). Comparisons were made between the readability and legibility of each font. |
| The evidence gathered from the summative stage resulted in a comparative analysis of data between the dyslexic and control groups. Distinct typographic preferential differences between the two groups emerged. The majority of non-dyslexic readers preferred: serif style fonts, lowercase forms, large x-heights, medium weights, variable strokes, normal inter-word spacing and familiarity of form. They also preferred Times New Roman as a family. The majority of dyslexic readers, however, preferred: handwritten-style fonts, uppercase (Sylexiad) forms rather than lowercase forms, long ascenders and descenders, light weights, uniform strokes, perpendicular design, generous inter-word spacing and, as with the control, familiarity of form. Unlike the control they preferred Serif Sylexiad as a family. |
| My findings indicate that for the majority of dyslexic readers tested, the typographic characteristics of generous inter-word spacing allied to the light weight and slightly condensed form of the Sylexiad fonts were significant. The investigation also indicates that for subjects with reading difficulties such as dyslexia, it is the combination of spacing, weight and form that is often more important than individual letterform design. More controversially, my research questions the importance of word shape as a useful recognition model for dyslexic readers. |
| During the formative stage of testing, Dine 1 (the font with maximum word shape) was the least favoured font whereas Dine 3 (the font with the minimum lowercase shape) was the most favoured by the dyslexic readers. During the summative stage there was also a distinct preference by the dyslexic readers for those paragraph texts set in uppercase rather than lowercase forms. These findings, coupled by the fact that most reversal difficulties occur in lowercase rather than uppercase forms, would tend to support (at least for the majority of the dyslexic readers I have tested) the parallel recognition model favoured by cognitive psychologists. |
| Sylexiad is only the first version of a typeface for the adult dyslexic reader. Further research into word recognition and the testing of new versions of Sylexiad against new fonts and new dyslexia typeface recommendations will therefore continue. |
| Robert Hillier is First Year Leader on the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at Norwich School of Art and Design (U.K.). This paper is an edited transcript of 'Sylexiad. A typeface for the adult dyslexic reader' presented at Typevents - Fast Type Slow Type St Bride conference at Birmingham (U.K.) in October 2006. |
| References |
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1 The Surrey Institute of Art and Design. Staff Development on Dyslexia Awareness. Epsom. 1999. 2 Ian Smythe. What is dyslexia? World Dyslexia Foundation Website. 1999. p.1. 3 Kevin Larson. The Science of Word Recognition. Eye 52. 2004. pp.74-77. 4 ibid 5 Linda Silverman. Visual Spatial Learners - The Power of Images. Conference paper. London. The London Institute. 2000 |