Clear print guidelines for producing information that is also legible for persons with reduced vision.
The European Blind Union (EBU) has recently launched (January 2017) Clear Print Guidelines that will assist companies, individuals and organisations make the documents which they create more accessible.
It is recognised that there is an increasing elderly population in Europe and as a result it is inevitable that the numbers of people with sight problems will also grow. This is associated with the estimated 30 million people who are living with sight loss in Europe.
These vision problems can lead to several issues with daily living tasks and activities. One of these barriers relates to the ability to read text and although there is a range of assistive devices and technical aids to help people with the conditions associated with sight loss, these can be expensive. The sight conditions which many people are affected by will require high contrast, larger text, heavy (bold) lines and specific lighting. One of the easiest ways to assist people with vision loss is to create accessible text which has been designed in line with the principles outlined the EBU clear print guidelines. For example, the guidelines recommend:
- Printed and electronic material is clearer when in black and white. Use coloured text for titles, headlines or highlighted information. Always in the highest possible contrasting colour with the background.
- Provision of good visual contrast between background and text.
- Choosing standard fonts with easily recognizable upper and lower case characters, without serifs (sans serif).
- Keep text in a large font, preferably between 14pt - 16pt - 18pt Arial or similar.
- Choosing fonts with medium heaviness. Avoid fonts with light type with thin strokes or one with a combined thin and heavy stroke.
- Using monospaced letter type. This means that each letter is separated by exactly the same small distance from the other letters in a word, while there is more space between words.
- Whenever possible, use left alignment. This is highly recommended as it facilitates reading and is preferred over justified text.
- For further details on the clear print guidelines click here.
To find out more about make documents accessible please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on 01 – 4151285 or e-mail [email protected]
