“Computers have rendered us all gods of type, a privilege we could never have anticipated in the age of the typewriter.” Simon Garfield states this in his book Just My Type: A Book About Fonts. The... Show more“Computers have rendered us all gods of type, a privilege we could never have anticipated in the age of the typewriter.” Simon Garfield states this in his book Just My Type: A Book About Fonts. The fact that one can scroll through the pull-down typeface menu on any word processor and choose any style, made us much more familiar with typefaces and this led to us having favourite ones and ridiculing others. Helvetica for instance, is generally perceived as a typeface loved by hipsters and lazy designers. It even has its own documentary. Comic sans, another well known typeface, is an often ridiculed because of its informal character. It is said that it should never be used unless you write for children under age 10 and some people want banned all together. Typefaces, in other words, evoke some strong feelings. Garfields book is aimed at a general audience and not specifically at an academic audience and was well received, showing that there is an interest in typography among the general public. There has been some scientific research on how different typefaces shape our experience of reading too and it has become a commonplace in the design and communications field that different typefaces have different connotations and therefore have some kind of power. In this essay the proclaimed power of typefaces is explored by using the example of a recently developed typeface, Dyslexie. This is a typeface that should help people with a reading disorder read faster and with less errors. First, the main features of a typeface will be given. After that, a closer look will be taken at the Dyslexie typeface. Its main features will be discussed and research about the Dyslexie typeface will be examined to, in the end, make clear what the power of Dyslexie is. Show less
