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Learn about typography for Augmented and Virtual Reality (Spatial Typography)

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Get Started

We’re entering a future where reading doesn’t just happen on flat screens, but inside space itself. In the early days of AR and VR, text was almost an afterthought. Rendering limitations, eye comfort, and poor tech support kept it minimal. That picture is shifting. Spatial interfaces now rely on text everywhere, labels, captions, chat, code and even full documents.

As text becomes central to how we interact in XR, new questions surface. How do we keep type legible while moving? How do scale, distance, gaze, and light change stroke contrast? Which placements help reduce fatigue and improve comprehension?

This resource is built around those questions. It began during my master’s in Typeface Design at the University of Reading in 2017 and continues across today’s headsets: Meta Ray-Ban Display, Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, HoloLens, Magic Leap...

As the tech is growing rapidly, I'll do my best to keep these guidelines updated with regular additions based on my findings.

How to use this resource

The documentation is organised in layers: core concepts, factors that shape reading, and a way to classify text by use. If you’re skimming, start with Classification and Type Selection. You’ll also find short hints that highlight the most important takeaways for your XR project.

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If you find these guidelines helpful and would like to support my research, then you can buy me a coffee here 😊

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply.

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Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, AR, VR