Many of us spend a great deal of time reading online. Whether reading on a screen is essential for work or you conduct the most of your reading on a screen (news, ebooks, social media, etc.), the constant blue light glare and small letters can be taxing. In addition to causing eye strain and headaches, screen usage can leave some with a sense of dissatisfaction and the impression that they’re not fully absorbing what they’re spending so much time reading.
The Swiss typographic designer Renato Casutt has created Bionic Reading, a reading system. Based on the premise that the brain reads faster than the eyes, it includes highlighting the initial few letters of each word. These bolded letters generate “artificial fixation spots” that allow the reader’s eyes to “skip” over words while the brain’s language center automatically fills in the remainder while retaining the meaning. This alleviates part of the eye strain caused by reading on a screen and improves comprehension, allowing you to comprehend texts with less effort. This style of reading does feel somewhat, well, bionic. Juan Buis, a UX writer for companies such as Spotify and Minecraft, said, “It’s crazy how reading this feels like unlocking 100% of your brain.”
As with so many other smart discoveries, this one was made by chance. Casutt struggled to read the words of a book he was creating for an author who wrote in a foreign language, but he discovered he could relate them to his own language by separating them. His idea enhances reading speed and comprehension for all readers who have tested it, even those with dyslexia.
After tirelessly developing Bionic Reading for six years, Casutt has suddenly been inundated with letters about the tool. He has continued to test it and improve its functionality. So far, it is adaptable to the tastes of each individual reader. Options include the ability to increase or reduce the quantity of bolded letters, their frequency, and their transparency. There are additional options to change the font and font size, as well as the line height, spacing, and column width—basically, anything that affects the readability of an online document.
Casutt’s objective is to incorporate Bionic reading into all existing apps and services. The website states, “In a digital world dominated by superficial kinds of reading, Bionic Reading strives to promote a more in-depth reading and comprehension of written content.”