Seeing clearly

Hundreds of font choices are available to compose digital documents, from “Comic Sans,” to “Georgia,” to plain old “Arial.” While they may have a lot of aesthetic appeal for most users, for the nearly one in five Americans who suffers from dyslexia, they make documents confusing and difficult to read.

But technology and graphic design may be changing this. A recently developed typeface, called “Dyslexie,” is making reading easier for people with dyslexia and is now available free to home users at dyslexiefont.com.

Christian Boer, 33, is a Dutch graphic designer who is dyslexic and who began developing the font in 2008 while a student at the University of Twente in the Netherlands to “make reading a less arduous task,” according to his website. He eventually turned the project into his graduate school thesis. Independent studies demonstrated that both adults and children with dyslexia read more quickly and with fewer errors when reading documents composed with the Dyslexie font.

The first thing he did was “throw every rule of making a typeface overboard and look at what could happen to make it easier to read,” said Boer in an interview with Wired magazine. Each letter is designed so that it can’t be confused with others, even when rotated or mirrored. “That’s something that people with dyslexia do without noticing,” Boer told Wired.

Those with dyslexia often confuse letters such as “d” and “b,” because they are mirror images of each other, so Boer slanted or deformed them slightly. They also commonly flip some letters, such as “p” and “d,” upside down. To remedy this, Boer increased the boldness of the letters at their bases, giving them a more weighted look. He also enlarged the openings of letters such as “e” and “c,” to make them more distinguishable from one other. Capital letters and punctuation are all in boldface.

There is no known cure for those who suffer from dyslexia, but, as Boer told Scientific American, his Dyslexie font is “like a wheelchair” that can help them.

Retailer’s retreat

If you’re of a certain age, the name RadioShack may evoke fond memories of cozy little stores crammed with audio equipment, walkie-talkies, electronic games and toys, and esoteric gadgets and gizmos.

But the name RadioShack may soon cease to exist. The nearly 100-year-old retailer is in bankruptcy negotiations, and according to a Bloomberg report, may sell about half its 4,000 company-owned stores to Sprint Corp. and close the rest. It’s possible that another bidder could emerge that would buy RadioShack and keep it afloat. According to Bloomberg, the Chinese backers who took the Brookstone chain out of bankruptcy, Sanpower Group, are part of the discussions.

The iconic company began in 1921 as a mail-order retailer for amateur radio operators. By the 1980s, RadioShack was the go-to place for personal computers, gadgets, and hard-to-find electronic components. But the recent trend in e-commerce shopping and the growth of “big box” stores such as Walmart and Best Buy have hurt customer traffic.

If the struggling retailer is unable to come out of bankruptcy, the end of RadioShack will mark a poignant milestone in retail history. Where else can a nerdy kid hang out admiring expensive short wave receivers and go home with a cheap crystal radio kit? —M.C.