In addition to our work for this student-run trade press, Oolies have other requirements before graduating with our masters in book publishing. Our final graduation requirements include a digital portfolio, oral defense, and—most importantly—a final research paper. 

I took the research course in the fall of 2024 to prepare for my graduation in spring of 2025. Our research papers can focus on any area of publishing we choose. We are encouraged to pursue a topic we have a real interest in! 

I was inspired by the consideration of visuals as functional, productive contributions to content in terms of how the layout or design of material can serve a greater purpose. At the time, I happened to be redesigning an info session series for my campus job as format editor for the graduate school to prioritize the most productive presentation of the material, alongside other considerations of efficiency, flow, consistency, branding, and accessibility.

This led me to look into accessibility in layout, design, and formatting choices. There was a solid amount of research into accessibility accommodations for dyslexia already out there, so that prevalence helped determine the scope of my research. From there, I narrowed down to children’s books print formatting and typography. Then I got started!

While I worked on this project for over six months, my research topic did not change. However, the framing of my findings did. While the subject remained the same, the questions I was asking became more specific, nuanced, and focused on distinct areas within the broader concept of accessible typography in children’s publishing. 

I researched how children’s publishing can utilize text formatting and design through aspects such as font size, line spacing, and layout simplicity to support readers with cognitive and visual disabilities, such as dyslexia, by adjusting these aspects to make print format children’s books more accessible.

Print format children’s books feature intentional text layout design, such as a larger font size or wider line spacing, by nature of the small word count and target audience. I performed extensive research on accessible text formatting and layout design for children’s publishing. I paired this information with multiple case studies to exemplify accessible title text formatting and layout simplicity for intentional accessible children’s book design.

I learned how accessible accommodations for print children’s books benefit young readers with print disabilities as well as a wider audience. Ultimately, publishers can adapt the text formatting and layout efforts already utilized in print format children’s publishing to also consider accessibility, taking into account the accommodations necessary to understand what would make a title’s formatting accessible.

I found the research process incredibly valuable, especially for how many times it took me in different directions than I had anticipated. I learned a lot about how much more there is still to study on this topic, as well as how important scope is when working on a research paper with a timeline. In concluding my research, I found myself more intrigued than ever, and I look forward to learning more about the world of accessible formatting in the future.