Cadman

$ 0.00

License:
FREE for PERSONAL
and COMMERCIAL USE
Format:
OTF font
Characters:
2327
Glyphs:
2556
Features:
dlig frac liga locl ordn salt smcp subs sups case kern mark mkmk
Version:
2.100; September 23, 2020
Published:
2020
LocalFonts:
23/09/2020
Styles:
Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic
Designer:
Copyright:
© 2017-2020 by Paul James Miller. All rights reserved.

Description

Font Sampler

(EN) The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. (NL) Op brute wijze ving de schooljuf de quasi-kalme lynx. (CS) Nechť již hříšné saxofony ďáblů rozezvučí síň úděsnými tóny waltzu, tanga a quickstepu. (HU) Jó foxim és don Quijote húszwattos lámpánál ülve egy pár bűvös cipőt készít. (RO) Înjurând pițigăiat, zoofobul comandă vexat whisky și tequila. (RU) Разъяренный чтец эгоистично бьёт пятью жердями шустрого фехтовальщика. (BG) Огньове изгаряха с блуждаещи пламъци любовта човешка на Орфей. (SR) Фијуче ветар у шибљу, леди пасаже и куће иза њих и гунђа у оџацима. (EL) Ταχίστη αλώπηξ βαφής ψημένη γη, δρασκελίζει υπέρ νωθρού κυνός. Type your own text to test the font!
Description

A highly legible Sans Serif font which might be helpful for people who are dyslexic.

Version 2.1 is a minor update which adds more discretionary ligatures. Smileys, arrows etc.

Design, Publisher, Copyright, License

Design: Paul James Miller

Publisher: Paul James Miller

Copyright 2020 by Paul James Miller. All rights reserved.

Paul James MIller

Paul James MIller

Sheffield, UK-based supporter of the open source paradigm, who works for the NHS.

Font Info

This is the Cadman font.

I have two friends who are dyslexic and they both expressed the need for a clear and legible font so I made one.

The name of the font is an indirect reference to one of these people who spends a lot of his time using CAD systems.

It started out as the Andika font from SIL which is already a highly legible font, but this was modified with many suggestions from Sofie Beier’s book ‘Reading Letters – designing for legibility‘ and also many modifications suggested by research on the internet as to which letters cause confusion for people with dyslexia and what solutions other people have found.

During the design much testing was done with the admittedly small number of test subjects (just two) to see which letterforms were more recognisable, always choosing the more legible version even when that sacrificed some style.

I don’t know if a specific font for dyslexia is a good thing or not, certainly some fonts are more legible than others.

My hypothesis is that the success of fonts which have been specifically designed for people with dyslexia is a placebo effect. The reader expects the special font to be easier to read so they put extra effort into reading the type. Knowing that a typeface has been specifically created to address one’s needs may well provide useful motivation that enhances concentration and engagement. Then, having better understood text for having made an effort to read it, the reader credits the enhanced comprehension to the special font rather than them having put in extra effort to comprehend it.

However having said that some fonts are easier to read and comprehend than other so why not make a font which fulfills all the criteria, it certainly cannot make the situation any worse.

The Cadman font has been designed to be as legible as possible. There is a lot of opinion on the Internet about which fonts are suitable for dyslexic people and much of it is contradictory. This is only to be expected, people are different from one another and what is suitable for one is not suitable for all.

However there are some characteristics which are commonly accepted as making a font more suitable for use by dyslexic people.

  • Good ascenders and descenders
  • Wide apertures
  • b and d distinguished from each other not just mirrored
  • p and q distinguished from each other not just mirrored
  • Different forms for capital I, lowercase l and digit 1
  • Rounded g and rounded a as in handwriting
  • r & n together (rn) should not look like m
  • The f character has a descender to make it more unlike a turned t
  • M and W should be distinguished from each other and not just be mirrored
  • 6 and 9 distinguished from each other not just rotated
  • The use of distinct letterforms where confusion could arise
  • A slightly looser spacing than normal

Cadman fulfills all these criteria. But Cadman is not just for people with dislexia.

Cadman is suitable wherever a clear and legible sans serif font is required. It has Bold, Italic and Bold Italic.

There are many open type features including SMALL CAPITALS, fractions and ordinals. There are two stylistic alternatives which change the digit zero from dotted to slashed zero or blank zero.

Cadman contains a Greek alphabet suitable for mathematics and many Mathematical Operators, Letterlike Symbols, Miscellaneous Symbols and Dingbats.

Enjoy !

Design: Paul James Miller

Publisher: Paul James Miller

Copyright 2017-2019 by Paul James Miller. All rights reserved.

Author

Paul James MIller

Paul James MIller

Sheffield, UK-based supporter of the open source paradigm, who works for the NHS.

License

License: SIL OPEN FONT LICENSE

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Vendor Information

Vendor: Paul James Miller