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Mencap has recently created, in collaboration with people with learning disabilities, a font which is accessible for everyone to read easily. Mencap has big hopes for the font:

FS Mencap will be available for public use, rivaling Arial and Helvetica as the standard accessible font. It is hoped this will make reading easier for thousands.

The process for creating the font sounds fascinating, and highlights the importance of typography in communication:

Over a three month period, the learning disability group looked at various styles of sans serif and handwritten fonts. They considered how letter spacing, width, shape and style all affected readability and developed a very individual font with 260 characters. During the process, larger and more rounded letters were found to be more accessible. The letter 'v' was given a curved arm to differentiate it from a 'w' and the letter 'r' opened up to make it more legible.

More details on the font can be found here:

— FontSmith announces a groundbreaking new font for people with a learning disability

— FS Mencap, a new standard in legibility

— New-look Mencap is here

Tags — Art & Design Society