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Name: Lexend
Release Date: 2019
Designers: Bonnie Shaver-Troup, Linnea Lundquist, and later Thomas Jockin, Santiago Orozco, Héctor Gómez
Classification: Sans-Serif
Owned By: The Lexend Project
Claim to Fame: An early typeface designed for people with Dyslexia, and low reading fluency.
The story of Lexend is a reflection of innovation, and the shared impact technology has on the world. To tell it thoroughly, we must start post-WW2, when in the late 1960s research started into a phenomena first labelled “Word-Blindness.” Now it is called Dyslexia.
Dyslexia is widely used throughout recent history by different professionals and uninformed persons in and out of public perception with different connotations and understandings of what it is to better suit their respective biases. However, what is agreed upon is that some people do experience limiting and persistent problems with recognising a collection of symbols and turning them into oral language. This is through a combination of the brain's ability to interpret, and partially on the letterforms themselves. Not everyone with a low fluency in reading is dyslexic, and vice versa. Though dyslexia was a core focus initially, the scope of Lexend has widened to include anyone who’s ability to read get’s in their way.
Within any single medium for expression there is a burden of inaccessibility to at least one subsection of people. Aid is often supplied through other sources internal or external to the project. Reading’s relationship to typography can’t be simplified in that way.
In traditional education systems, particularly those found in the United States and Canada, sources are limited. Hand outs, textbooks, and your basic homework are all traditionally paper based, only in recent years becoming more influenced and intertwined with digital technology, if at all. And so previous to this integration what was left for the students with needs which could not be met by the standard typefaces of the day?
Enter Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup, an educational therapist who in 1999 noticed people who experienced reading related difficulties with fluency, were being inhibited by the lack of choice of something which suited their needs.
In the year 2000, with the typeface being later digitized by Linnea Lundquist in 2004, she began a project called LEXEND, with the goal to create a typeface that aided students with reading difficulties through the perception of words themselves. If the cause of comprehension errors is a mix between cognition and perception, what about the perception could be changed to alleviate the stress?
Lexend stands out from its peers through its family of siblings. The adjustments made are not drastic enough to be spotted over a glance, and act as a typeface suitable for scenarios outside of education systems. Counters are slightly larger on average, and stroke contrast is low. Ascenders, descenders, and x-height are slightly larger in minuscules, commonly called lowercase. Letterforms such as I and T are given more unique shapes compared to similar sans-serifs. However symmetrical identical letterforms that are rotated, such as miniscule p and d do not have noticeable differentiators, which should be reconsidered.
These subtle changes meant that I myself did not realise Lexend's concept when I first found it, as it was a suitable multipurpose typeface outside of its origins. One could easily mistake it as an approachable friendly sans-serif geometric typeface without a second thought. An instructor could use it for the entire class, and it would have minimal impact for most , but noticeable improvement for those who benefit from it, which is to say, not all.
The issue with any solution that is intended to solve problems experienced by a population, is that not all people are alike, and thus any solution must account for small variations in the symptoms by the users. What makes Lexend “Lexend” is its breadth of customization. Within a large range of 9 weight types from thin to black, and 7 character spacing variations to reduce crowding, that’s 63 different styles from the default options alone. These adjustments to be made based on the needs of the user are as Lexend themselves put it, like adjusting a glasses prescription.
In correlation with the growing research of dyslexia in the 1980s, the advancement and availability of computers truly began. That is if you were one of the few who could afford playing with the novel machines. Digital font files for these computers allowed for typefaces to be used based on the needs of users outside the publishing world. The TrueType Font reigned until two years before Dr. Shaver-Troup’s idea, where a sleeping blessing happened.
In 1997 Microsoft and Apple combined forces to create OpenType, the most robust font file type as of date. In the following years as its glyph storage and customizability grew alongside both the reliance and necessity of advancing computing power, a revolutionary tool changed both digital typography, and Lexend forever: the innovation of variable fonts. In late 2016 the previous tech juggernauts with aid of Google, Adobe, and independents expanded the capabilities of OpenType to include real time user inputted adjustment to at least one aspect of a typeface, from anything such as width, counter size, or even custom shapes.
Starting in 2017 and releasing in 2019, The seven Lexend Typefaces released through Google Fonts as an open source variable-font tool to allow both ease of implementation and customization for users. All 7 siblings are variable, meaning that instead of just 9 sizes each, there are 800 individual sizes each. In total Lexend today has 5600 different possible options to choose from. For free. As of to date Lexend is embedded in a little over 112,000 websites, and can have around 200 million uses a week.
It’s no confession to say Lexend is not the perfect solution for everyone. It never was or will be. It’s just one tool designed to help those which aid from its specific design choices, and by extension sets an example of how to avoid the one size fits all approach. As technology continues to improve and customization becomes more accessible and intuitive, thinking outside the box might just mean taking a step back, and reusing what you’re given to help more people than yesterday.
Is making a difference a matter of trend or reflection?
Do you draw the line at miscomprehension or perception?
As you design your type based on a sans-serif, sans-self, or glyph ascender direction, will you derive success from deeping connections with diverse dependents?
When rendering thoughts, penning plots or making amends through a message,
Privilege is provided to those able to have read the lesson. Barriers are just a window of opportunity too small, or perhaps a glass ceiling viewed from the wrong perspective.
To help one helps us all, so always remember to be a Lexend.
References
Accessible typography. (2020, June). American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/accessibility/typography#myth5
Breuer, T. (2023, January 9). The Lexend Project. slanted. https://www.slanted.de/the-lexend-project/
Google Fonts. (n.d.). Lexend. https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Lexend/about
Karton, M. (2025). Type for a New Millennium [Song].
The evolution of technology in the classroom. (2024, January 1). Purdue University College of Education. https://education.purdue.edu/2024/01/the-evolution-of-technology-in-the-classroom/
The Lexend Project (n.d.). Change the way the world reads. Lexend. https://www.lexend.com/
Variable fonts: What’s new in them for designers? (2021, June 25). TypeType®. https://typetype.org/blog/variable-fonts-whats-new-in-them-for-designers/
Wolf, M., Gotlieb, R. J., Kim, S. A., Pedroza, V., Rhinehart, L. V., Tempini, M. L., & Sears, S. (2024). Towards a dynamic, comprehensive conceptualization of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 74(3), 303–324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-023-00297-1
Zaraysky, S. (2022, February 2). Struggling to read? A font may help. Google Design. https://design.google/library/lexend-readability
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"A constant vague objection to the notion of reality."
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Music (public domain): TRG Banks - Above the Earth
Karton, M. (2025). Type for a New Millennium [Song].
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