A guide to providing accessible information
Large print
Produce large print using a sans serif font and with a point size of 14 or above.
Sans serif fonts are those which do not have serifs; the little extra strokes found at the end of main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letter forms.
Documents using 14 point text are considered to be large print. However, documents written using 16 point text are easier to read for many people. Where people ask for larger font sizes the documents can be produced to order. If you are asked for large print it is good practice to ask what font size is preferred.
Large print documents should follow the recommendations set out in the Clear Print guidelines.
Sometimes people create large print documents by taking a standard size document and enlarging it using a photocopier. Using this approach may cause deterioration in print quality. This method of enlargement is not recommended.
Taking a sheet of A4 and enlarging it by using a photocopier’s enlarge mode to make it into an A3 document is not recommended. Some people may be reading the document using a CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) magnifier. These are designed to take A4 as their ideal paper size and using A3 can present problems to the end-user.
You can produce large print using most modern-day word processing packages and printers. Where a document is complex it may be worth considering using a specialist service to produce the documents for you.
Source: "Information Alternatives - A guide to providing accessible information
