I'm a big reader. I've owned Kindles for many years and have made heavy use of them. While I do prefer physical books, as I suppose most people of my generation and above do, I can't deny the incredible benefits of ebooks. If you've never read on a Kindle or an e-ink screen, you are missing out. It is a wonderful experience, much more like read paper than the LCD screens of our laptops and phones which instead tire the eyes out. E-ink screens are much more clear and also never flicker, and since the only power usage is refreshing the screen, they can always be "on" and the battery will last weeks. Amazing devices.
Anyway, some time ago Kindle started allowing us to add our own fonts to the device. I take advantage of this and I recommend you do as well. In this post I'm going to cover three great fonts that make reading easier. Did I mention they are free?
This font actually comes preloaded on Kindles these days. I don't remember when they added it, but if your Kindle is new enough to have the latest OS update, you will have this one. For any who don't have it—or if you want it for your phone—it's free so you also can grab it.
This is a font that is designed for people with dyslexia and includes features that help differentiate commonly confused letter pairs. It does look a little strange. The letters are designed with a heavier bottom portions of letters to prevent flipping and mirroring, slightly slanted forms, and unique shapes to distinguish similar-looking letters.
Personally I don't use this one often, but sometimes if I'm having trouble with a book for some reason I can't nail down, I will switch to it. Other people, however, even people without diagnosed dyslexia, swear this works wonders and helps them read faster and without mistakes.
If you are curious, download it here
This one was designed to focus on enhancing legibility for readers with low vision but is beneficial for all readers. Its design principles are rooted in making each letterform more distinguishable to prevent confusion. There is no attempt to prevent mirroring like the above font, so the letters look "normal", but there are several additions designed just to improve clarity.
For example, letters that are very similar, such as l, I, and 1 (lower case L, capital i, and the number 1—if they look similar in your font) are all given distinct forms to prevent confusion.
The letters are also designed to have more open space, to prevent the letters from merging in the eyesight of people with less than stellar vision.
While this font, like the above, is designed with visual impairments in mind, many people with no problems at all love it and claim it also makes reading easier for them.
I only recently discovered this one, but I am liking it so far. Like the above, this one is designed for people with reading difficulties. It is less specific that just targeting one problem like the above two and is instead tackling multiple issues. It is aimed at improving reading speed, comprehension, and comfort. Pretty high goals, but their website provides a lot of data from studies that do back up their research and show reading improvement in certain groups.
Lexend offers several unique features intended to reduce visual stress. These include wider character spacing, varying degrees of expansion and contraction in character width, and a generally clearer and more open typeface design.
So far I am really enjoying this one. While it doesn't look as nice as Atkinson Hyperlegible to me, it does seem to be easier to read. Now the only drawback to this one—or benefit, depending on how you look at it—is that it doesn't just offer a single typeface, but an entire family. There is Lexend Deca, Lexend Exa, and so on. Each one offers slight differences designed to customize the font to the user. Unfortunately they don't offer a lot of documentation on the differences to each one, so you is trial and error as to which you might like.
If that sounds good for you, get it here.
If you are a reader, give these three a try and see if you like them. Even if you aren't a reader, they may be more comfortable for just normal computer work. They are all free anyway, so worth a download.
Are there any other fonts you like for reading sessions? Let me know in the comments below.
| David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon. |
