Advertisement

Introducing Dyslexie, a Font for Dyslexic People

By Melissa Dahl

A Dutch designer has created a font specifically for people with dyslexia, intended to stop the text from performing alphabetic gymnastics like reversing or flipping over backwards when they’re trying to read. “People with dyslexia unconsciously switch, rotate and mirror letters in their minds,” Christian Boer, the font’s creator, told design site Dezeen. “Traditional typefaces make this worse, because they base some letter designs on others, inadvertently creating ‘twin letters’ for people with dyslexia.”

Related: Lying to Your Kids — Even for Good Reasons — Will Turn Them Into Liars

In Boer’s font,which is called Dyslexie, those “twin letters” — like and d — lean slightly slanted to the left, and their openings are distinctively shaped.

And all of the letters are thicker at the bottom, which, Boer says on his website, keeps them from flipping around in the reader’s mind.

Related: Here’s How Reading Can Improve Your Social Skills

We should note that while reversing letters is certainly a symptom of dyslexia, it’s not the only one; it’s not even necessarily the defining symptom. Dyslexia is a language-processing disorder, which means that people who have it often have trouble with words that extends beyond reading text. Many find it difficult to understand sarcasm, idioms, or other things not meant to be taken literally, for example; others may stumble when trying to summarize the main plot points of a story. But for those who do struggle with reading, this font is a cool and potentially very helpful idea.

See more from New York magazine:

When Introverts Should Avoid Coffee

Valley Girl Linguistics Might Be a Good Thing

Dads Who Do Dishes Raise Ambitious Daughters

A Type House Divided: How the Most Successful Partnership in Type Design Fell Apart