My Kindle is one of my favourite and most-used material possessions. Where I go, my Kindle will surely follow. I love that I can load it up with books aplenty and never be without a good read. Before bed, it’s always fiction but nothing too riveting which’ll have me up all hours. Nope, a nice lovely novel will do the trick. During the day, it’s a different matter, that’s when I’m either diving into some non-fiction as research or to learn something new or when I want to get pulled into a page turner. For me, reading is (and always has been) escapism, a learning tool, and self-care.
I first heard about The Bionic Reading® Method when I was learning about ADHD. It was mentioned regularly in Reddit threads as something that was helpful to those who struggled to focus when faced with a wall of text.
The Bionic Reading® method was developed by Swiss typographic designer Renato Casutt in 2009. Casutt Initially designed it to assist individuals with dyslexia:
More than 15% of the population has serious difficulties reading and understanding texts (ADHD, Dyslexia). We have received feedback from those affected that thanks Bionic Reading® because they immediately understood the content of various texts the first time, they read them, which was impossible without Bionic Reading®. This is pure motivation and also a responsibility towards society, which we are happy to fulfill.
I’m hoping there comes a time when Kindle comes preloaded with this font but, until then, here’s how you can install it (or one very like it) to Kindle yourself.
installing Fonts to kindle
First of all, you’ll need to check your Kindle’s compatibility with allowing custom fonts. Most Kindle models running firmware 5.9.6 or later will allow you to add them.
To prevent possible obstacles, check your Kindle’s software is up to date. You can do this by tapping the top of the screen on your Kindle. Then, select Settings >> Device Options >> Software Updates, and, if there is an update, install it.
Using your computer, access the Fast Font for free on Github, click on the green button and then “download ZIP”. (Alternatively, you can access the download the Bionic Font from Bionic Reading® for USD 49.00.)
You’ll need to make sure you unzip/uncompress the .zip file to extract the fonts.
Next, you’ll need to connect your Kindle to your computer where it’ll appear as an external drive. Within there, you should be able to find a folder named “fonts”.
Drag and drop (or copy and paste) the .tff and .otf font files you’ve just downloaded, into the “fonts” folder within the Kindle external drive and then eject the Kindle from your computer.
To enable the font on Kindle, is really easy! Open any book in your library, tap the top of the screen and tap on “Aa”. Tap on the “font” menu, then “scroll through the “font family” options until you locate the font you’ve just installed. When you see it change the text on the page, you can tap out of the menu. Enjoy!
