Vision

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Overview | Understanding vision | Visual functions (5) | Env. context | Design guidance (2) | Pop. stats. (2)

Design Guidance

General | Text

  • Choose text of suitable size, font and brightness contrast for comfortable reading given the likely viewing distance and potential difficulties caused by ambient lighting
  • Be careful with the use of text on a patterned or picture background, with due consideration for legibility
  • Avoid italicised or decorative font styles for blocks of text or signs
  • Carefully consider the line thickness, line spacing and overall size when designing graphical symbols or logos
  • Note that common practice is to use a serif font for large blocks of text, and a sans serif font for signs, labels or headings

For further guidelines on printed text, see RNIB (2006).[ RNIB (2006) See It Right: Making information accessible for people with sight problems. Royal National Institute for the Blind, London. ISBN: 1858787041 ]

A telephone keypad with white numbers on grey keys, and a keypad with larger, higher contrast dark blue numbers on white keys.

Comparison of text sizes and contrast for some different telephones

A medicine bottle top with raised white text on a white background, and one with a raised black diagram on a white background.

Comparison of different contrast levels for the instructions on medicine bottles