Accessible user experience with Berghall fonts

In order to achieve maximum usability on digital devices, Berghall follows POUR accessibility principles in its design. To be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust have guided Berghall’s overall design, its details and the styles in the family.

Robustness

Berghall’s robust design echoes features from Old Style Antiques which were variations of Old Style fonts with lower line contrast and heavier serifs. Their sturdy lines, open shapes and diagonal line terminals have inspired Berghall and brought a level of robustness to its design. Details like serifs, tails or punctuation marks are well articulated which helps smooth rendering on screens. The proportions of the letters are also optimised for sizes used for body copy.

Perceivable and understandable

To make content accessible, the font must be perceivable and understandable. This demands good legibility from the lettershapes, meaning that they have to comply with many readability requirements developed over hundreds of years in western culture. Berghall takes into account how the technical quality of typefaces (craft), reading habits, context and platforms affect readability.

Berghall’s overall texture is an example of the craft quality that creates an undisturbed reading experience. The mass of text looks harmonious, but at a detailed level, the alphabet stands out clearly and does not mix with each other at a quick glance.

During the reading process, eyes scan word images, the outline of a complete word or even longer cluster of text at ones. Berghall’s line terminals, apertures and ascendings create uniform yet distinctive word images that are easy for the eye to scan. Clear differences between weights, as well as Roman and Italic styles, make typographic contrast easy to perceive for the reader.

Operable through WCAG compatible contrasts

One of the key parameters in digital accessibility is the color contrast of the text. WCAG guidelines set a minimum difference in luminocity needed to clearly distinguish the text from its background and this threshold is higher for readers with impaired vision.

Similarly, the clarity of typographical contrasts, like the visual difference between paragraphs and subheadings, helps the accessibility.

To guide designers create accessible typographic contrasts, we have made sure Berghall’s weight ratios correlate with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) contrast principle within font ‘grades’. Changing the font weight from Normal to Bold will result in an equal contrast of 4½ : 1 of WCAG’s AA-level.

As a result, typographic contrasts are clear enough even for visually impaired readers. This is particularly practical for UI designers who want to ensure good accessibility for all audiences.

Gentle typographic contrasts, like for names or quotes, are achieved with Italic. It stands out subtly due to the text’s texture change—a smooth method traditionally used for pleasing highlights within long texts. Berghall’s Italic style echoes Old Style tradition, featuring strongly slanted characters that stand out distinctly from the upright text.

Similarly, if the background color of the text is dark, you can help the text stand out better by using a darker grade.

Desirable design

When talking about typography, desirability is an important accessibility addition to POUR principles. What users find easy on digital platforms is often just – fun. While Berghall has a steady and harmonious shapes for long reading, it also has features that make it stand out while creating a pleasureable visual statement. This will make reading fun and helps the user engage with the content.