Designing For Dyslexia: Creating Course Material for the Dyslexic Student

Dyslexia is a learning disability that causes difficulty in reading and in the decoding of words and sentences. It is difficult for those who do not have dyslexia to understand what it is like to struggle with reading and processing information. In order to create a positive reading experience for those students who are dyslexic, a style guide is created for educators at a higher education learning institution.

At the beginning of each semester, students are given a course syllabus. Each syllabus is laid out and formatted differently according to the preferences of each individual instructor. Because each individual syllabus varies in style, this can create an inconsistency in not only how course material is formatted but also in how the course material is read and understood. This becomes especially difficult for students who have dyslexia. By creating a standard that correctly aids in the formatting of course material, we create a more positive reading experience for dyslexic students, while also creating a more universal reading experience for all students.

The main component of my thesis project is the publication itself (print and digital). The publication is presented as a visual guide on how to successfully create a document for the dyslexic reader/student using basic design principles. Although many of the guidelines that are presented are established design standards, I am presenting them to a non-design audience. Some of these basic design standards are specific and unique to dyslexia. Instead of creating a book with this information in it, I chose to separate each individual section/topic in its own accordion fold book. This package includes a small introduction booklet that explains what dyslexia is, as well as four accordion booklets, each focusing on the topics of Hierarchy, Typestyle, Line Length and Leading, and Page Format.

Similar to the print version, the digital version of Designing for Dyslexia holds the same information, only in a different format. The digital version allows for interactivity and displays a horizontal and vertical view. Links are applied to the contents page so the reader can move directly to the specific section desired.

This style guide is to help instructors create course material that will aid in better reading fluency and comprehension for those students with dyslexia, while also creating a universally enhanced reading experience.

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