I’m not dyslexic, so I really have no way of judging whether this is bogus or the real deal. But 10 per cent of people have the learning disability, and for them I hope this is legit.
The font, called OpenDyslexic, was created by Aberlardo Gonzalez. It’s open-source and free to be used outside of attribution without restriction.
Your brain can sometimes do funny things to letters. OpenDyslexic tries to help prevent some of these things from happening. Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to add a kind of “gravity” to each letter, helping to keep your brain from rotating them around in ways that can make them look like other letters. Consistently weighted bottoms can also help reinforce the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent flipping and swapping.
OpenDyslexic also takes a different approach to italic styles. It is generally recommended that italics be avoided in reading material for dyslexia. However, instead of taking the normal approach of “slant x% for italic,” OpenDyslexic’s italic style has been crafted to allow for its use for emphasis while maintaining readability.
Download OpenDyslexic for free here, then let me know what you think. Does it work? [OhGizmo]