If you grew up with a family member who is dyslexic, or have struggled with dyslexia yourself, you know that it's a disability most people don't fully understand. It's something we acknowledge as a learning disability, but in a lot of cases, our knowledge doesn't extend beyond that. Daniel Britton created Dyslexic Typeface to raise awareness for dyslexia, because his font shows how hard it is for people with dyslexia to read. Britton created it at the London College of Communication and it's gotten a huge swell of support on the Internet recently.
In a self-published article on Bored Panda, Britton said, "I created a typeface that would be almost illegible so that it would slow down the reading pace of a non dyslexic person to the speed of a dyslexic and in return recreating the frustration, the embarrassment of reading with the condition."
Britton has spent his entire life trying to explain the feeling of reading with dyslexia and now, with his new type face, he will spare thousands of others the constant need to explain. He feels that he has a responsibility to help those in a similar situation to him. Britton told Bustle, "I feel that as a designer you can create something which is beautiful, which is fine, we all like to be surrounded by aesthetically pleasing things, or you can create something to help someone else."
When looking closely at this font, keep in mind Britton's explanation of Dyslexia, from his blog:
"For most people the letters and numbers do not jump around on the page and the colours remain the same, it is simply a break down in communication between they eye and the brain, for most people you can see the information, you can see perfectly each and every letter form but there is something in your mind that is stopping or slowing the process of information and for most this is Dyslexia."
Here's the font:
And here are the sketches of the font in Britton's notebook:
Britton hopes this typeface will gain even more media attention and is thrilled that people are reaching out to learn more about how he deals with dyslexia. He plans to create a Dyslexia Awareness educational pack to send to schools, hoping it will educate parents and teachers on how best to deal with dyslexia.
For more on Britton's work, visit his website or listen to an audio clip of Britton talking about his new font. To support with work with a donation, click here.
Images: Getty Images; Courtesy of Daniel Britton
