Lexend is a collection of seven font families intended to improve reading proficiency. As prescription eyeglasses achieve proficiency for persons with short-sightedness, Lexend's families were developed using Shaver-Troup Formulations.
All the Lexend fonts have been upgraded to variable fonts with a weight axis (from Thin to Black) in June 2021, thanks to the efforts of Font Bureau.
To contribute, see github.com/googlefonts/lexend. For more information, see lexend.com.
A key factor in reading problems might be hiding in plain sight. Learn how changing fonts can change comprehension.
A child struggles to read and understand their homework assignment. An adult re-reads a news article and still doesn’t understand what it’s about. Both readers end up frustrated and feeling like there is something wrong with them. Thankfully there might be a simple answer. Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup thinks fonts are part of the problem and the solution to many reading problems.
“We have a global reading crisis and we can change much of it by delivering fonts that are optimized for the visual field and for the individual. The answer is hidden in plain sight. It’s the font,” said Shaver-Troup.
While working as an educational therapist in Silicon Valley, Shaver-Troup helped students with dyslexia and other reading problems to learn to read. She experimented by changing the spacing between certain letters in their reading assignments, and found that it improved their reading and comprehension. According to Shaver-Troup, the issue wasn’t in her students’ minds, it was with the letterforms they saw on the screen or paper.
“The majority of the reading problems, including dyslexia, are not cognitive or phonological. They are visual or perceptual. Our testing has a built-in design flaw. We use fonts to deliver text for reading that are too tight for efficient or successful visual processing. Then we get poor results, suggesting the reading issue is phonological or cognitive. If we change the font to the tested optimized font fit, then we change the outcome,” she explained.
To learn more, read:
Clean and clear: making reading easier with Lexend (English)
Partnering to change how the world reads (English)
Eine Partnerschaft mit dem Ziel, das Leseerlebnis weltweit zu verändern: Erweiterung von Lexend um verschiedene Schriftstärken (German)