Image&Word

The PhD of Ann Bessemans (Leiden University, University of Hasselt) is a first attempt at bridging the gap between font designers and cognitive scientists studying the legibility of letter characters. The ultimate goal of this PhD is to design a font that can reduce the reading problems of children with low vision. It has been proven that the reading process of these children is disturbed due to a reduction in visual input. As a result of this reduced visual input in low vision children not only the reading process itself is disturbed but also the process of learning to read is negatively affected, which may lead to cognitive problems that in some cases necessitate a transfer from regular to special education. This reduction should be demonstrated in an empirical and scientifically justified way using real fonts instead of artificially created fonts. In this project letter characters will be used that are designed based on both the scientific and typographic knowledge existing on the legibility of letter characters. The visually impaired children who are studied in this project are selected on the absence of any other cognitive problems, in order to study the effects of the letter characters itself (and not the effects of cognitive impairments on legibility). They are tested during their process of learning to read (5-10 years). The research results, the data on the tested fonts’ influence on the reading behaviour of children with low vision, will be used for designing a new font.