Vancouver 13-18 June 2021
Easyreading Multimedia Srl was one of the official speakers of the 21 th IEA Congress – International Ergonomics Association – (Vancouver 13-18 June 2021) with the report “A Highly Legible Font for All” (Authors: Marco Canali, Christina Bachmann, Federico Alfonsetti) – Speaker: Marco Canali).
Abstract
Reading is a frequent activity in everyday life for most people all over the world. A highly legible font represents an effective and inexpensive device to help reading in an accurate and less fatiguing fashion. The EasyReading® fontwas originally conceived to alleviate the hindrance experienced by dyslexic readers, but its design has soon evolved to encompass the broader public. To this end the Design for All methodology has represented a constant guiding reference.
Examples of the solutions adopted in the design of roughly one thousand glyphs are presented to illustrate the simplicity of the main concept at the foundation of EasyReading®.
The results and the conclusions of three independent scientific investigations are reported and briefly discussed. In two cases the main question concerns the effectiveness of EasyReading® vs. Times New Roman as an aiding tool for dyslexic pupils compared to normal readers of the same educational level. The third case offers a challenging point of view about the effectiveness of a font as an aiding device.
Finally, a brief overview is offered about possible practical applications and future developments of the font.
Keywords: High legibility – Font · Dyslexia – Ergonomics – Design for All
The report has been published in the congress records “Proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2021)”, Volume II: Inclusive Design, Part III: Ergonomics in Design for All (Edited by Isabella Tiziana Steffan and Ken Sagawa), pages 172-179, Springer International Publisher Science.