Christian Boer, a graphic designer from Amsterdam, designed a new type of font called Dyslexie to help people with dyslexia read more effectively.
Boer, who has dyslexia as well, created a Dutch version of the font when he was studying graphic design at Utrecht School of the Arts as part of his thesis project. Smart Planet reports that an English version of the font became available to purchase in 2012.
He decided to toss the typography rulebook out the window when he made the new font, Wired reports. Most fonts are designed to be visually appealing, but Boer decided to make a font that would be functional for dyslexics.
A dyslexic person’s brain processes written language differently than most people’s brains do. In extreme cases, the letters appear to move or rotate.
"I perceived letters floating like balloons in my head," Boer told Scientific American .
At first glance, the new font looks very similar to the dreaded comic sans font. However, Dyslexie letters have distinct differences in spacing so that individual letters do not blur together. Since some letters look virtually the same to someone with dyslexia, the letters were designed to emphasize differences to help readers tell them apart.
The new font works with Windows and Macintosh computers, but is not available for iPads yet. The Dyslexie font can be downloaded here .