Final Major Proposal.
MA CTM Final Major Proposal/ Unit 1.3 Maya Littman
Research Question
How to improve the legibility of the typefaces and facilitate the reading experience for the dyslexic reader?
Aims and Objectives
This project has as an objective to help dyslectic readers with the legibility of the printed word facilitating the process of continuous reading and the anxiety that it sometimes causes. This being beneficial as a solution is being sought to the problem. My intentions are to create a range of typefaces or one good typeface and possible solutions to help/ aid the dyslexic reader with their frustrations while reading.
Context
The term of dyslexia was brought to light in 1887 by an ophthalmologist named Rudolf Berlin practicing in Stuttgart, Germany. Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a persons fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read. It can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short term memory, or rapid naming. This desire to research into the dyslexic environment is not only curiosity but also self-motivated as I am diagnosed as having a severe case of dyslexia. As a typographer, graphic designer; I love finding solutions to problems and resolving the issues regarding the legibility of the written word. Therefore I would like to be able to find some improvement in this typographical environment. When I was recently re-assessed for dyslexia I was asked if I was using Arial, I replied that Cambria has been my dedicated typeface for the last 5 years. It came to my knowledge that most typefaces recommended by these dyslexia organisations were never designed specifically for the dyslexic reader. The design of Helvetica (on which Arial was profoundly based) and Times New Roman were developed when there was little or no mainstream understanding of the condition of dyslexia.
There are various facts about which typefaces are the most useful for dyslexic people how can it improve the legibility. For example many dyslexic organisations have been putting forward the utilisation of sans-serif fonts, such as Arial (British Dyslexia Association, 2000, p.1) and Sassoon Primary (Dyslexic.com, 2000, p.1 and British Dyslexia Association, 2000, p.1). The only recommendation for serif fonts was sixteen years earlier by Bevé Hornsby of the International Dyslexia Centre, and that was for Times New Roman (Hornsby, 1984, p.71). This knowledge I have been able to acquire during my research in the Unit 1.2 that was about ‘how can we define a legibility of a typeface’ and as typographer we become elitist and no longer impartial about the practicality of a face.
Action Plan
During the next couple of weeks I will be contacting various dyslexic organisations; (eg: British Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Research Trust, Being Dyslexic) expressing my interest in the dyslexic performance of typography and legibility within the typefaces available or subjected to dyslexic readers. I will be specifically contacting Robert Hiller as he has done his PhD in legibility of type for dyslectics as a few other typographers and researchers that have completed typefaces. I will conduct a survey on dyslexic and non-dyslexic readers with and without the use of suggested dyslexic typefaces such as Freefonts for dyslexic readers: Lexia Readable (K-Type), Open-dyslexic (Abelardo Gonzalez) custom made fonts such as: Dyslexie (Christaina Boer), Gill Dyslexic/ Mono dyslexic (Pixelscript), Mencap Fs (Fontsmith), Sylexiad (Robfonts, Robert Hiller), Read Regular (Natasha Frensch) and Sassoon fonts for young school children (Rosamary Sassoon) and finally typefaces that haven’t been specified and pro dyslexic but are recommended: Verdana, Arial, Comic Sans, Trebuchet, Cambria, Century Gothic and Helvetica. While conducting this survey, I will include various background colours . Dyslexics can often have Meares Syndrome a condition affecting 50% of readers. This syndrome includes words jumping of the page, skipping words or lines, the blur effect and much more. Whilst attempting to answer this problematic, I will go one extreme to the other; creating a font that is extremely rigid and hurts the eye to a more flexible face.
Dyslexie typeface designed by Christian Boer
Lexia Readable typeface designed by K- Type
Read Regular typeface designed by Natasha Fresch
It will be a process of adapting and learning to create a typeface that will be beneficial; investigating margin spaces, the flush, kerning, type size, sans serif versa the serif, line spacing, tracking and the uppercase/ lowercase. In many researches I found out that dyslexic people had preferences with good ascenders and descenders: b, d, f, h, k, l, t and the capitals; G, J, Q, Y. And to enforce b and d ‘s to not mirror themselves creating distinct characters each time. As well g’s need to be more similar to handwriting and a’s need to be less rounded to be less confused with the ‘o’. And have great kerning so that when using r and n together ‘rn’ it doesn’t look similar to ‘m’. I would like to define the various areas of difficulties during the next followings weeks so that I can be more precise and objective with this project. During my research into the various typefaces made for dyslexic readers, most of theses font are custom made and target mostly the characters of the fonts by creating distorted and no similar letterforms. For example the typeface ‘dyslexie’ has been created to have more weight on the bottom so the letter will not turn over. Creating a stronger and heavier baseline for the words to hold onto. Finally I would want to explore the favorite typefaces that users prefer and combine them and find the common link between each and create a new typeface. What I disagree with is that most typefaces have been produced for dyslexic use have no longer an aesthetic appearance but distinct characters. I would like to try and create a typeface that would answer the problematic of the reading disability and not dismiss the beauty of the face.
Resources
First my Unit 1.2 is linked to my final major project, so all the information that I would have found will help me define whether or not the typeface and layout has the possibility of good continuous reading. I will use the library and various sources of research such Dyslexic organizations and the disability resources within the university. I will be in contact with other typographers that have tackled typography and legibility more precisely within the dyslexia. I will consult my peers and tutors such as Paul Mc Neil, Teal Triggs and other typographers that I have become acquainted with. I will use the social media to help me discuss topics such as LinkedIn, tweeter, facebook; as I am in various typographic groups within each.
Evaluation
To evaluate my work I will test it on real life candidates, such as dyslectic and non-dyslexic people.
Schedule of work: From week 15 to 20 I will be emailing and contacting on a one to one basis people that work within the dyslexic environment. So I can produce the most adequate survey on the dyslexic and non-dyslexic readers and get results. From week 21 to 26 I will start to compile all the data collected from the surveys and classifying the discoveries. With the information accumulated I will compare it to the research and information that has been already done and see where the typeface needs to be improved. I will start to design/ create a typeface based on the findings of the surveys. From week 27 to 44 I will carry on trying out the new typeface and experimentations, while compiling information to be able to have a good body of contextual studies. At the same time I will write a critical analysis about the typeface and the layout that I have found the most effective.
Output
As my final outcome is a typeface as well as an amelioration of the page with written words. Instead of creating a specimen of type I will put it into practice. For example in a cook book and see if the reader has less difficulties.
Bibliography
Books: Baines, Phil and Haslam, Andrew, 2002, Type & Typography. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd Beier, Sofie, 2012, Reading Letter, designing for legibility. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers Berger, John, 1972, Ways of seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation; London : Penguin Drucker, Johanna, 1994, Visible word : experimental typography and modern art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Garfield, Simon, 2010, Just my type: a book about fonts. London: TJ International Heller, Steven and Meggs, Philip B., 2001, Texts on type: critical writings on typography. New York: Allworth Press Helmut, Schmid, 2003, Typography today / concept and design. 3rd ed. Hall, Inc. Shinko Makoto statement Hochuli, Jost, 2003, Detail in typography: letters, letterspacing, words, wordspacing, lines, linespacing, columns. Switzerland: Hyphen Press Kane, John, 2011, A type primer, 2nd ed. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd Lupton, Ellen, 2004, Thinking with type: a critical guide for designers, writers, editors & students. New York: Princeton Architectural Press McLean, Ruari, 2000, Thames and Hudson manual of typography. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson McLuhan, Marshall, 1962, Gutenberg galaxy: the making of typographic man. Toronto : University of Toronto Press
Noble, Ian and Bestley, Russell, 2003, Visual research: an introduction to research methodologies in graphic design. Switzerland: AVA Publishing SA Ruder, Emil, 2001, Typographie: ein Gestaltungslehrbuch =Typography : a manual of design =Typographie: un manual de creation, 7th ed. Switzerland: Heer Druck, AG, Sulgen Spiekermann, Erik and Ginger, E. M.,1993, Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type word. Mountain View, California: Adobe Press Sudjic, Deyan, 2009, Language of things, 2nd ed. London: Penguin  Swanson, Gunnar, 2000, Graphic design & reading: explorations of an uneasy relationship. New York : Allworth Press Tinker, Miles A., 1969, Legibility of print, 3rd ed. Ames: Iowa State University Press Warde, Beatrice, 1956, The Crystal Goblet-Sixteen essays on Typography. Cleveland OH and New York: World publishing Co Web Links: Being Dyslexic, Dyslexia Summary, 2012 (online website), Available at: http://www.beingdyslexic.co.uk/pages/information/general-information/ dyslexia-basics/dyslexia-summary.php (Accessed 11 February 2012) Boder, Elena, Developmental Dyslexia: a Diagnostic Approach Based on Three Atypical Reading-spelling Patterns, 1973 (article), Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8749.1973.tb05180.x/ pdf (Accessed 24 March 2012). Brain a Journal on neurology, Theories of developmental dyslexia: insights from a multiple case study of dyslexic adults, 2002 (article), Available at: http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/126/4/841.long (Accessed 24 March 2012).
Dyslexia.com, Helping the most with your abilities, 2012 (website), Available at: http://www.dyslexic.com/fonts (Accessed 24 March 2012). Dyslexia Research Trust, 2012, Available at: http://www.dyslexic.org.uk/ research.htm (Accessed 25 March 2012). FontSmith, FS Me, 2010 (typeface), Available at: http://www.fontsmith.com/ projects/portfolio/mencap-fs-me.cfm (Accessed 3 February 2012). Frensch, Natascha, Read Regular, 2003 (typeface), Available at: http://www.readregular.com/english/intro.html (Accessed 11 February 2012) Hillier, Robert , Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, 2008 (article), Available at: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=8182/ (Accessed 9 April 2012). Hiller, Robert, Sylexiad, 2007 (typeface), Available at: http://www.robsfonts. com/samples/sylex_ser_med_bo.html (Accessed 24 March 2012). KType, Lexia Readable, 2012 (typeface), Available at: http://www.k-type. com/?p=884 (Accessed 11 February 2012). Types of dyslexia, 2012 (online website) Available at: http://www.macalester. edu/academics/psychology/whathap/ubnrp/dyslexia/types.html (Accessed 11 February 2012). UX Movement, 6 Surprising Bad Practices That Hurt Dyslexic Users, 2011 (article), Available at: http://uxmovement.com/content/6-surprising-badpractices-that-hurt-dyslexic-users/ (Accessed 11 February 2012)