Now that I have a better understanding of the vision problems associated with the aging eye, I’m beginning to do more research into what makes a typeface the most legible. It’s my goal to strike a good balance between legibility and aesthetics, but for obvious reasons I would much rather err on the side of legibility. The AIGA website has been a good resource for me in this part of my research, especially this particular page. It led me to this typeface called APHont, a typeface created through the American Printing House for the Blind (available here). It comes in four weights: regular, italic, bold, and bold italic.

The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) has developed a typeface known as APHont, which was specifically designed to be used by readers with vision problems. It incorporates: consistent stroke widths; an under-slung “j” and “q”; open counterforms; and larger punctuation marks. While APHont may not be an aesthetically pleasing typeface, it does point to the opportunity for further development of typefaces that accommodate the aging eye.

This typeface will be a good starting point as I begin designing for my project.