i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                 i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

e. e. cummings © 1952

»»  start here

recent comments

grote font

sunday, 1 october 2023

The asymmetrical lower case t of the groot and related fonts is, quite possibly, the final glyph substitution (available from the Iosevka project) to aid dyslexic readability. groot IMO is both a beautiful and highly legible font with its dyslexic glyph choices (though, some may prefer earlier glyph choice combinations that have been created :).

Up until now, all the fonts described here have all been derived from the Atkinson Hyperlegible font, with problematic glyph shapes tweaked for dyslexia. Ever passionate about the early Bauhaus period of font design, in particular, with the Futura font and its contemporary, the Jost font, i decided to create the grote font which edges ever more towards these sans serif fonts with maximal openness and geometric simplicity. Notably, the character cell filling “hook” of the lower case l and t are replaced with serifless glyph shapes to reflect a more grotesque heritage..

grote font

Similarly, the straight-turn of the lower case y simply becomes straight—aligning with the Bauhaus flavor of the font, further distancing from its Atkinson Hyperlegible origins. The lower case q does continue to retain its hook as part of the b d p q dyslexic glyph set—dyslexic readability still a focus of the font.

The serifless lower case l which is indistinguishable with the serifless capital I of the Futura font is clearly avoided by the grote font’s unique descending capital I. Strikingly, the familiar serifless crossed lower case t (of Futura) is replaced with the asymmetrical hookless glyph—which is less “dense” than the traditional crossed t, creating an even more open typeface (when combined with the serifless lower case l)—albeit, at the expense of familiarity (though, arguably more distinct).

It is stark with its geometric emphasis and has a completely different feel to the groot font. The added air emphasizes the sans serif sensation (even if the lower case i j are not—these remain serifed for maximum readability at small font sizes, the serif distinguishing their dot)..

Kobo with grote font

The hookless asymmetric t takes a bit of reading time to get used to, being an uncommon glyph shape. But the increased openness produced with its utter geometric simplicity and the visual motion of its shape impart a heightened sans serif look. The loss of the glyph hooks, turns and crossing strokes which are present in the Atkinson Hyperlegible font—the capital G, lower case l t y and 4—open up the grote font significantly (even compared to the groot font), strengthening its geometric cast—this does come with a somewhat reduced legibility for the visually impaired. The open capitals B P R and 4 complete the modern flair of the typeface.

It is not a typeface for everyone, unlike groot or stria which i am certain will have broader appeal. Before these font explorations, Futura was my go to typeface on my ereader. Now it feels like i have come full circle and then some. i’ve been reading with it for several days now nonstop and find it completely interchangeable with groot for ease on the eyes—it is a serendipitous geometric complement to the fonts created to date. If you’ve ever loved Futura and similar open geometric fonts, then this monospaced dyslexia tweaked font may appeal :)

repos

The current ereader fonts—including the asymmetric t variants—may be found on OneDrive.

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saturday, 19 march 2022

font creep. completion.

It took awhile but, save for the title font (which is safe for now), all the other fonts used on this site originate from the work done on the Monolexic font and the font families subsequently derived from that for coding and writing.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the Iosevka font upon which these font families are generated from with their own selection of character variants and metric overrides.

i am not a font designer nor an expert on dyslexia. But i am pleased with the font i have created for ereaders and its resultant legibility—it looks much much better at 300PPI on eink screens. That other lovely font families have not been able to displace Monolexic speaks to its legibility.. for my eyes, at least.

Hopefully, this site will yield the same visual ease and seduction for those stumbling onto these pages.

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