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Lexend Deca accessibility font

Why Lexend Deca?

Tru-Digital Protection has adopted Lexend Deca as our standard typeface across all policy documentation, privacy notices, and communications. This decision aligns with our commitment to accessibility and our EAA (European Accessibility Act) compliance obligations.

Evidence-Based Performance

Lexend Deca is not simply an aesthetic choice—it's empirically proven to improve reading performance.[1]

A controlled study with 20 third-grade students demonstrated statistically significant improvements in reading fluency (p=0.014) when comparing Lexend fonts against Times New Roman. The research measured Words Correct Per Minute (WCPM), a standard metric for reading proficiency used by educators for decades.

Key finding: 95% of participants showed better reading scores with Lexend over traditional serif fonts.

Design Principles

Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup developed Lexend in 2000 based on three core typographic principles:

  1. Sans-serif design reduces cognitive noise during reading
  2. Expanded scaling improves character recognition potential
  3. Hyper-expanded character spacing reduces crowding and masking effects

These modifications create measurable improvements in reading fluency, particularly for individuals who experience reading difficulties—which US Department of Education research indicates affects approximately 20% of the population.

Universal Design Benefits

While Lexend was initially developed to help struggling readers, its benefits extend to all readers:

For schools and trusts handling data protection policies, safeguarding procedures, and compliance documentation, readability directly impacts understanding and implementation.

Technical Accessibility

Lexend Deca is:

Our Implementation

Tru-Digital Protection uses Lexend Deca at 11pt as our baseline across:

This standardisation ensures consistent accessibility across our entire documentation suite, supporting our commitment to making data protection guidance genuinely usable for school staff, parents, and pupils.

Supporting EAA Compliance

The European Accessibility Act requires public sector bodies to ensure their digital content meets accessibility standards. Choosing an evidence-based, accessibility-focused typeface demonstrates our proactive approach to compliance—going beyond minimum requirements to deliver genuinely inclusive documentation.

Further Reading: