Fonts are already known to cause emotional reactions -- just see the vehement hatred directed at Comic Sans (and its fight back) -- but can they be used to recreate the frustration of being dyslexic?

That was the task final year design student Daniel Britton set himself after being diagnosed as dyslexic and realising that his friends and teachers couldn't appreciate what it meant. The font, in which he removed about half of each letter, isn't meant to recreate the exact experience of having dyslexia; rather, it's intended to show the reader what it feels like -- the extra effort it requires and the frustration you feel as it slows you down. "What this typeface does is break down the reading time of a non-dyslexic down to the speed of a dyslexic. I wanted to make non-dyslexic people understand what it is like to read with the condition and to recreate the frustration and embarrassment of reading everyday text and then in turn to create a better understanding of the condition," Britton explains on his website.


Britton isn't the first designer to try to get the effects of dyslexia across through visual arts. Sam Barclay's book I Wonder What It's Like To Be Dyslexic also simulates what it's like to have the learning disability. Like Britton, Barclay didn't aim to recreate what it's actually like to see through the eyes of someone with dyslexia, but to evoke the same feelings in the reader.

Dyslexia affects around 10 percent of the British population, according to the British Dyslexia Association, which describes it as "a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling". People are affected differently; some have problems processing language while others struggle to process visual information.

Although you can't currently download and use the font, Britton is now raising money to create packages for schools to raise awareness and understanding of dyslexia and the effects it can have, particularly on children. "The dyslexia awareness pack will bring a greater understanding of the condition and with this greater understanding can come a more solid education for dyslexic students of all ages," he says. You can donate here.