Working on an educational platform and accessibility is a real constraint - not a checkbox. Specifically looking at the best fonts for dyslexia because a significant portion of our user base will have reading challenges.
What I’ve found in research:
- OpenDyslexic is widely cited but the evidence base is mixed. Some users find it helpful, others find the unusual letterforms distracting. Not a universal solution.
- Atkinson Hyperlegible has cleaner research backing. Designed for low vision users, the letterform differentiation helps with misread characters (l/I/1, O/0 etc.)
- Lexie Readable is purpose-built for dyslexia with specific letterform choices
- Sylexiad (academic research font) has strong empirical evidence but limited practical implementation
What actually seems to matter more than the font:
- Increased letter spacing (tracking +2-5%)
- Increased line height (1.5 minimum)
- Shorter line length (45-75 characters)
- High contrast but not pure black on white (slight cream background helps)
- Sentence case over all-caps (never all-caps for dyslexic readers)
Anyone working in accessibility-focused design with specific font recommendations from actual users? That perspective is rare in the design community.
Atkinson Hyperlegible is the one I reach for when clients specifically ask about dyslexia accommodation. The design decisions are documented and rational - it’s not just “we made letters look different.”
The contextual alternates option is also worth enabling if the platform supports OpenType features.
The spacing and line-height points are more impactful than font choice in my experience. I’ve run informal tests on an internal platform: same font at 1.0 line-height vs. 1.6 line-height produces dramatically different comprehension rates for affected users.
Font choice is important but the whitespace work matters more.
@bright.puddle.15 the cream background tip is underrated. Pure white (#FFFFFF) creates a harsh luminance that exacerbates visual stress for many dyslexic readers. A #FFF9F0 or similar warm off-white makes a noticeable difference.
Also: avoid justified text alignment. The uneven word spacing in justified blocks is particularly difficult for dyslexic readers.
Adding a practical consideration: if you’re building on a platform that allows user customization (like many educational tools do), give users control over font size and line spacing. The best font for dyslexia is often whichever one feels comfortable to the individual reader.