Week 3 Capstone Progress

Weekly Goals

1. Revise characters in low vision typeface.
2. Create kerning tables for low vision and dyslexic typeface.
3. Contact User Testers

Part 1: Character Revision

Several of my characters were structurally a bit rough, and needed some adjustments to their bezier curves. This can be a time consuming business, as adding bezier curves will create more issues later when creating the dynamic font, so I’m avoiding it at all costs here. The best example of this work can be seen in my revision of the lowercase d, as seen below.

Part 2: Kerning Revision

I have created workable kerning tables for both static typefaces based off of roboto’s native character spacing. Based on feedback from the International Dyslexic Association, I intend to add the ability to adjust letter spacing to my variable font. This development isn’t particularly visual, but I can show the .otf files if need be.

Part 3: Endless Email Communication

I have contacted and followed up with the International Dyslexic Association and the Colorado Center for the blind. Neither have been particularly helpful so far in regards to helping with user testing contacts, but I am hopeful that with continued interest at the least the Colorado Center for the blind may be of some help. Outside of this, I have secured one definite dyslexic tester for this week, and reached out to another.

Reflection

This week, time management improved with more vigorous use of my personal planner. Most of my activities took the predicted amount of time, although kerning took a bit longer because it was highly tedious and I kept checking my email to avoid doing it. This week I am learning more and more that user testing is going to make or (hopefully not) break this project, so prioritizing it highly is a good idea. This means prioritizing finding testers, which, however uncomfortable for me, will continue to be very necessary.