The Impact of Typography in Communication with Easy-to-Read.

Abstract

Language is a huge barrier for people with low reading skills in healthcare information design. In the OECD, about 20 % of the adult population have difficulties reading and writing simple texts. In Germany, 6.2 million people are concerned. For this group so-called Leichte Sprache (easy-to-read language = ETR) is recommended. But what is ETR, and does it really help the target group to achieve better text comprehension? Until recently, designers have hardly been involved in this complex task of comprehensible communication.

Sabina Sieghart did start researching the impact of typography on comprehensible communication with ETR in 2016. She did conduct three studies on typography and easy-to-read language. As a DIN (German Institute for Standardization) committee member, she is substantially responsible for the formulation of the visual guidelines of the DIN SPEC 33429 Leichte Sprache (easy-to-read language).

She will present the results of all 3 studies with focus on her latest study that looks into digital communication. (A second practical work based talk could be on the attempts to communicate Covid information in an accessible way and the Swiss Web Design System).