FS Mencap a new font designed for dyslexic readers
Mencap has been collaborating with Fontsmith and user groups to produce a font to aid readers/users with learning difficulties entitled “FS Mencap”. The font design appears to focus primarily on readers with Dyslexia, and employs various traits in order to make the letter forms unique and easily identifiable to the reader, for example; similar letter forms such ‘b’,'d’,'p’,'q’ all have a unique design and do not use mirroring or similar shape patterns (it will probably make more sense when you look at them).
One thing i did wrongly assume this morning (never go on the internet before you have had your weetabix) is that the project was a collaboration which involved microsoft in some way. Which of course it does not. But it does raise the interesting question around screen readiness. Given that we are at the second dawn of custom Web Fonts, and Mencap’s aim is to use it on their own website, It would be an amazing achievement if Mencap could produce a a version designed to render well on screen at different sizes which could be embedded in accessible versions of Stylesheets.
Its also important to note the amazing font project from 2002 designed for to help children with Dyslexia called Read Regular which seems to share many of the same findings and design principles as FS Mencap. The site also describes some of the issues dyslexic people face when reading bodies of text. Unfortunately, I have yet to see Read Regular in the public domain for purchase.
There is a bit more background on Read Regular in a Wired magazine feature.