The archive · Product Ideas · Marketing decision · 2022
Dyslexia Scotland weaponizes Comic Sans to recruit designers — D&AD 2023 Wood Pencil
A campaign that made designers face their most hated font, Comic Sans — which dyslexic readers find easier — and launched a free inclusive typeface.
Dyslexia Scotland
What it had to solve
Comic Sans is the most polarising font in design, yet its irregular letterforms help dyslexic readers focus on text that otherwise feels chaotic. Dyslexia Scotland and INNOCEAN Berlin wanted to reach the people who shape information — designers — and push them toward inclusive typography.
How it works
In October 2022, Dyslexia Scotland, INNOCEAN Berlin and WeTransfer launched 'There's Nothing Comic About Dyslexia' during Dyslexia Awareness Month. The campaign took Comic Sans — the most polarising font in design — and revealed why it works: the same irregularity designers dislike is what helps dyslexic readers focus on text that otherwise feels overwhelmingly chaotic.
The campaign targeted designers directly, covering print, film, outdoor, social and digital with the deliberately 'wonky' Comic Sans look, guaranteed to catch the eye of symmetry-loving creatives. Its challenge: don't simply accept Comic Sans — design new typefaces that are both dyslexia-friendly and beautiful.
As the practical answer, the team launched Inconstant Regular, a free, highly variable dyslexia-friendly typeface created by Norwegian designer Daniel Brokstad and downloadable from a bespoke microsite. WeTransfer supported the campaign by donating ad inventory across its platform of more than 87 million monthly users.
The idea won a D&AD 2023 Wood Pencil and a One Show Bronze Pencil, together with Eurobest Gold and London International Awards Silvers, and became a reference case in typography for inclusive design.
Why it lands
- Using the audience's own prejudice — Comic Sans — guaranteed attention from the exact people the campaign needed to reach.
- The reveal that the hated font is the one that helps dyslexic readers reframed an aesthetic argument as an inclusion argument.
- The campaign didn't stop at awareness: it shipped a free, beautiful, variable typeface so designers could act immediately.
- Partnering with WeTransfer put the message in front of the creative community where the change actually has to happen.
What it did
The work won a D&AD 2023 Wood Pencil in Art Direction/Direct and a One Show Bronze, plus Eurobest Gold and LIA Silvers, and gave the inclusive-design conversation a concrete tool designers could actually download and use.
What you can take
Take the audience's own prejudice and flip it: the font designers most hate turned out to be the proof that inclusive design is possible — then hand them the tool to change their practice.
Since then
The campaign became a reference case for inclusive design, earning D&AD, One Show, Eurobest and LIA recognition in 2023 and coverage from design press including It's Nice That and Design Week. Inconstant Regular remains freely downloadable and variable to individual dyslexia needs, and Dyslexia Scotland continues to use the campaign's core message — beautiful design and accessibility do not have to be mutually exclusive — in its work with designers.
Sources
- There's Nothing Comic About Dyslexia — D&AD archive
- There's nothing comic about dyslexia
- If Comic Sans can help people with dyslexia, why is it still a punchline?
- Healthcare Marketing Ranking 2023 — Innocean
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