Accessible Font Version 5 Font is a typeface that occurred with the results of the research project. This study was conducted at the University of Esad. Cr. It was investigated the reading difficulties of individuals with autism based on learning difficulties.
The design and research process of the project took three years. Accessible Font Version 5 Font was developed to use in the reading education of individuals with autism and learning disabilities.
The Accessible Font Version 5 Font is based on the opinions of special education teachers, legibility research, and interviews. Accessible Font Version 5 Font has a legible and multilanguage structure with 5 versions eight sets six weights.
Accessible Font Version 5 Font has customization support, so teachers can use different fonts according to the variable learning to read difficulties on individuals. In this way, teachers can make effective teaching according to individuals’ problems in reading education.
Research
The research consists of a literature review on autism Accessible Font Version 5 Font, interviews with special education teachers (Turkey), and survey studies (Turkey, England, USA).
In the study, it was seen that reading problems of individuals with autism don’t characterize by autistic symptomology nor dyslexia.
It was concluded their reading profile is a delayed impairment reading profile and it may due to learning disabilities.
For this reason, the font family was developed not only for individuals with autism but also for individuals who have difficulty learning to read. Accessible fon was developed with various versions and sets to meet different individuals’ needs in learning to read.
Design
The design process is based on the opinions of special education teachers, reading errors, and readability research. as a result of the design process, Accessible font came up with five versions, eight sets, and six weights(v.1, v.5).
In this context, the typeface design allows the teachers to change the font design according to the mistakes made by the student in reading education and their needs in learning to letter or words.
Version 1 and version 5 are prepared for long texts as legible structure. Version 2, 3, and 4 are designed to reduce students’ reading errors and help to learn phonics.
Accessible font design is unique no font has been prepared before according to these features and the ways. Version 2, 3, and 4 have been prepared by going beyond the conventional type design.
In order to achieve this, the most common letterforms pairs that cause misreadings were identified by research, and new features (serif or stimuli) were added or redesigned again to reduce similarities between similar letterforms (as an example b-d, p-q-g, n-m, I-l-i,).
The serifs that applied on the letterforms have been placed in different directions than each other in order to identify letter forms ‘ structure easily. Each version has unique features please check the version features to understand the differences in the design process.
Version 5 has six weights and two set features. It is compatible with the web and printing. The accessible typeface family was created based on the practices of educators, typeface designers, and researchers in the fields of psychology.
The aim of the typeface study is to find solutions to the problems of individuals who have difficulties in reading and the process of learning to read.
Accessible Font was designed with a large x-height, large dotes, diacritics characters, legible structure, large letter-spacing (side bearings), different letterform combinations, and reducing similarities between letterforms.
The Accessible stand out with extended characters that support almost 200 Latin-based languages, covering math symbols, punctuation, and currencies.
The accessible font family is a simple and harmonious appearance as well as it offers great customization support to the pedagogues with differences in letterform design and stylistic combinations.
As a result, a typeface is appeared to meet the individual requirements in which the teachers can change the character design according to students’ needs. This makes the Accessible font accessible for everyone.
