Atkinson Hyperlegible
Type with Purpose
Good typography guides attention, improves understanding, and makes communication effortless.
The Anatomy of a Typeface
By FontSide · June 2026
Every typeface is a system of decisions — about stroke contrast, x-height, spacing, and rhythm. The best ones feel invisible: you stop seeing the letters and start hearing the voice behind them. That transparency is the hardest thing to design.
A high x-height opens up the counters and makes small text breathe. Tight tracking pulls a headline together; loose tracking gives a caption room to exhale. None of these choices are accidents — they are arguments about how reading should feel.
Uppercase
Lowercase
Numerals
Symbols
Configuration
Select the weights and styles you want to include in your project.
Weights
Styles
Package Manager
The recommended way to use fonts in modern web projects.
1. Install Package
pnpm add @fontsource/atkinson-hyperlegible2. Import in App
// Please select at least one weight and style3. CSS Usage
body {
font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible", sans-serif;
}Google Fonts CDN
Use Google's CDN to embed the fonts directly via HTML.
HTML <head>
<!-- Please select at least one weight and style -->Fontsource CDN
Skip the build step by adding this directly to your global CSS file.
Global CSS
/* Please select at least one weight and style */Background & Story
Atkinson Hyperlegible, named after the founder of the Braille Institute, has been developed specifically to increase legibility for readers with low vision, and to improve comprehension.
Having a traditional grotesque sans-serif at its core, it departs from tradition to incorporate unambiguous, distinctive elements—and at times, unexpected forms—always with the goal of increasing character recognition and ultimately improve reading.
To contribute, see github.com/googlefonts/atkinson-hyperlegible.
From Rebranding to Readability with Atkinson Hyperlegible
Distinct and modern, the Atkinson Hyperlegible typeface aims to deliver both legibility and readability
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment. Major financial burdens can occur when people can’t read fluently or work to their full potential. For example, the WHO estimates that “losses associated with vision impairment from uncorrected myopia and presbyopia alone were estimated to be US$ 244 billion and US$ 25.4 billion, respectively.” Typeface design can help.
When Braille Institute hired Applied Design Works to create a new brand identity and branding strategy to coincide with their 2019 centennial anniversary, the firm looked for a beautiful and functional font specifically designed for improved legibility and readability. Brad Scott and Elliott Scott of Applied Design Works were concerned about typefaces that look a little like old ransom notes, where each letter and number were dramatically different from each other. They wondered if, despite designers’ intentions, these typefaces could actually be more difficult to read for some people. They decided that no existing typeface met their legibility, readability, and branding goals. So they endeavored to create a new typeface called Atkinson Hyperlegible, named after the organization’s founder J. Robert Atkinson. The work would go on to be recognized with a 2019 Fast Company ‘Innovation by Design’ Award.
To learn more, visit From Rebranding to Readability with Atkinson Hyperlegible.
Tags & Moods
Subsets
Install
pnpm add @fontsource/atkinson-hyperlegibleDesigned by
Braille Institute, Applied Design Works, Elliott Scott, Megan Eiswerth, Linus Boman, Theodore Petrosky
Links
License
OFL-1.1