Project R-6304

How to visualize prosody to help children read aloud with more expression. (Research)

Beginning readers often struggle with reading aloud in a fluent, expressive manner. Reading fluency is not only defined by speed and accuracy but also by proper expression and the naturalness of reading. These tonal phenomena of phonological constraints are part of prosody. This project will explore whether it is possible to visualize prosody in type and how this can help children with reading aloud. In a first design phase of this research design experiments will investigate manners to visualize prosody in the context of existing typefaces. Prosody can be defined as the rhythm, stress and the intonation of speech. Speech has three main components: pitch, loudness and duration (like a melody). These cues serve as sources of inspiration to compose three new design parameters in the context of real typefaces. In the empirical phase of this project the influence of manipulating these parameters will be studied (both an actual and perceived legibility study). In the second design phase a large typeface family will be designed, combining the results of the first study and the actual practice of designing typefaces. In addition to this design output the results will be translated to guidelines for innovative ways of incorporating visual prosody within the design of typefaces for both beginning readers and readers struggling with reading.

01 October 2015 - 30 September 2019