Goals

1. Character refinements + simplifications
2. Website ideation and first steps
3. Finishing Dyslexic Wide Axis

1. Character Refinements

Many of my characters were defined with far too many bezier points, which unnecessarily complicated the letter shapes and caused a lot of issues with adjustment. I have spent much of this week eliminating extraneous points, and generally simplifying the letters. This made interpolation far smoother, and greatly eases the variable font process in general. Lesson learned for next time!

I have continually refined the letter shapes across each version. There are a ton of character shapes, around 200 in all, so there are always more adjustments to make.

2. Website Ideation

I have made a few mockups for a potential website to display my font and tell its story. I want to accent the unique aspects of my typeface in a robust web format, and facilitate download and use of my product.

Here are a few mockups of what I have so far. I have chosen yellow and black as my primary colors, and will likely continue to use these, as they are good for accessibility.

3. Dyslexic Wide Axis

I have been continually working on my dyslexic wide axis, which is now completely finished, aside from numbers and punctuation.

Goals

1. Create 90% presentation.
2. Get 2nd axis working.
3. Create a demo of both axis working.
4. Collect and analyze user testing.
5. Revise based on user testing.

1. Process Presentation

This week I presented my progress with a powerpoint which summarized by total process this semester, including new developments in user testing and revisions. This presentation can be seen here.

2. Second Axis

I have created a demo which show cases my second axis at work. I also finalized the secong axis this week, adding numbers and lowercase characters to the character set. Here the second axis is called optical size – this will likely change when I find a more suitable name.

3. User Testing

After struggling to gain traction with user testing last week, I decided to offer $5 amazon giftcards to those who completed my survey. This worked to a moderate extent, and now I have 9 complete surveys to review. I have written a complete blog post about this where more can be read about my process and revisions. A few of these revisions can be seen below.

1. Create Testing Survey
2. Distribute Testing Survey
3. Begin Axis 2 development

1. Testing Survey

This week I created a testing survey designed to test my variable font. It is primarily based of a new type specimen page, which can be seen here. The goals of the survey are to determine effectiveness of the dyslexic adaptations, inquire about additional adaptations I might be missing, and guage the efficiency of specific letters. The full survey can be seen here.

2. Distributing Test Survey

After some brief exploration, I identified a robust and active community of dyslexic folks in a reddit subreddit, r/Dyslexia. I made a the following post to accompany a demo of my font, and added incentive to participate in the survey by offering Amazon giftcards. As yet, the survey hasn’t gained much traction, but I am hopeful that more people will take the survey.

3. 2nd Axis Development

I have spent the past week developing a minimal character set for my 2nd axis. The full font will be complete by next week, but there’s not a ton to show so far.

Goals for this week

1. Continue to pursue outside advisor.

2. Export variable version of dyslexic font.

3. Create webpage to display and test font.

1. Outside Advisor

Dyslexie designer Christian Boer replied to my initial email last week, and has agreed to be an outside advisor for this project !!! He has reviewed my variable typeface, and has given me some very valuable feedback. We have exchanged emails several times this week, and I am optimistic about the benefits of this relationship for the future.

2. Export Variable Font

I have completed my dyslexic version and exported it as a .ttf file. The full character sets can be seen here:

3. Website

I have created a rudimentary webpage to display and test my font. This will useful for user testing and distribution, and has already been very useful for communicating with Christian Boer. The webpage (and full variable font!) can be seen here:

Font Demo Website

Goals for this week

1. Reach out to outside advisors (reach goal)
2. Important minimal character set to glyphs.
3. ATLAS mentor check in

1. Won’t you be my mentor?

As far as outside mentors go, there are few that seem to be readily accessible. Christian Boer, designer of dyslexie, seemed like a good choice, as he has worked in this design space and published a successful dyslexic facing font. However, his contact info does not seem to be available anywhere – even the dyslexie page does not contain a contact section. My next thought was to approach the designers of Atkinson Hyperlegible, a low-vision facing typeface. This typeface was published by the Braille institute, but has not been publicly attributed to any specific designers so far. I sent the Braille institute an email inquiring about whether the designers would be willing to meet, and have yet to hear back from them.

2. Minimal Character Set

I have completed the minimal character set, and imported them into glyphs. Examples of these characters transitioning from regular to dyslexic adaptation are shown below.

3. Mentor Check In

This week I talked to my mentor Danny about my project, and he shared his perceptions of my project progress so far. These are detailed in another blog post, so I’ll just summarize here. His recommendations were to prioritize user testing and documentation, and begin thinking about the final presentation now.

Danny Rankin is my ATLAS advisor for my capstone project. I spoke to him last Thursday about my progress so far and plans for the remainder of the semester. His comments mostly fell under two categories: user testing and documentation.

User Testing

Danny stressed the importance of doing a large amount of user testing. To paraphrase him, even if the end result of testing disproves your hypothesis, the testing is still incredibly valuable, and has done its job. He recommended a minimum of 10 tests per single axis font, and at least 15 for the dual axis font. He also mentioned the value of a high volume of tests, even if the target audience is less accurate. To account for this, I will be prioritizing user testing over almost everything else for the remainder of the semester.

Documentation

Danny also stressed the importance of documentation to ATLAS capstone projects. According to him, being able to present your project in a captivating way is nearly as important as the content of the project itself. He recommended that I prioritize documentation more highly, and liked the idea of my SDK. He also mentioned that I might make a few static versions of the font, as some developers would likely not want to mess with adding a variable type GUI to their project.

This Weeks Goals:

1. Continue to work with OIT to get Glyphs 3 working through splashtop.
2. Begin development in glyphs.
3. Map out Glyphs development process for remainder of semester.
4. Revise user test.

Part 1: Get Access to Glyphs through Splashtop

Previously I had gained access to the ATLS computers through OIT’s remote access product, Splashtop. This worked, except the version of Glyphs that was on these computers was in need of an update, and wouldn’t open without it. This meant that I needed OIT to install the update before work could begin, since I didn’t have administrator permissions to install it myself. After a bit of back and forth, OIT installed the update, and I was able to get to work in glyphs.

Part 2: Begin Development of Variable Font

I have begun to develop the variable portion of my font in glyphs. I am starting with my dyslexic accommodations axis. Essentially this involves importing the .otf files that I have previously made as multiple masters of a font, and then generating intermediate masters based on the two ends of the spectrum. My process going forward will be based primarily on the video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbYn0vaNpb0

So far I have successfully added the entire maximal character set for my dyslexic font. A few examples of these can be seen below, transition from regular to dyslexic adaptation.

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Part 3: Plan out Variable Development

Although I had set a general time frame for my variable development, I have not planned things out on a week to week basis until now. Based on the video linked above, and my experience with Glyphs so far, I have set the following timeline for myself:

Week 7: Finish Axis 1: Dyslexic Accomodation. Import minimal character set and punctuation. Create a functional single axis version of this font. Import maximal character set for Axis 2.

Week 8: Finish Axis 2: Low Vision Accomodation. Create a functional single axis version of this font.

Week 9-10: Develop Dual Axis Version. Create a function dual axis version of the font. User test.

Part 4: Revise User Test

Based on recommendations from Annie, I have revised my user test. Instead of a simple word list that is the same in each font, I have transitioned to a randomized word list in an attempt to decrease the effect of familiarity with the word list. The sentences are laid out sequentially (not in paragraph form) to decrease some of the effects of paragraph noise on reading.

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Goals for this Week

1. Develop User Survey (4hrs)

2. Conduct 1st User Survey (2hrs)

3. Assemble 30% presentation for next week (3hr)

4. Continue contacting CCB (notably call) (1hr)

5. Set up remote access to ATLS computers (2hrs)

Part 1: Develop User Survey

I set the following goals for my user survey:

1. Set a baseline for readability against Arial
2. Establish the effect of letterspacing
3. Determine effectiveness of dyslexic adaptations

To survey has four parts. To complete each part, the tester sets a timer for a minute, then reads from a list of random words (not sentences) until the timer goes off, making a note of the last word read. This allows me to determine words read per minute for each font. Each part of the survey displays the word list in a different variant, arial or dyslexic, widely spaced or regular. This allows me to assess the effectiveness of letter spacing, and of my adaptations.

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I have distributed the survey to two testers, and have yet to receive a response. I intend to send it to at least 10 total testers within the next week.

Part 2: Set Up Remote Access to Glyphs

Using the program provided by OIT for remote access, Splashtop, I have successfully connected to the computers in the ATLS student lounge and confirmed that I can run applications on them. It appears that Glyphs is out of date on these machines, and cannot open without an update, which I do not have administrator privileges to authorize, so I’ve filed an OIT help ticket. Since the issue isn’t all that complicated, I expect it will be cleared reasonably soon.

Part 3: Call the Guy

I called my contact at CCB, a Mr. Burke, and was able to reach him on my second try. He is bringing my request to his superiors, since he can’t reach out to potential testers without approval, so fingers crossed! He seemed nice enough so I am hopeful.

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.