The Heinemann fonts were initially developed by the in-house design team at Heinemann educational publishing out of the necessity to find the perfect font for use in early primary reading books and literacy products.

Basic Heinemann is defined by longer ascenders and descenders, which help children to distinguish between letters; rounded edges on all letterforms, which help the reader focus on the individual letter shape; and modified characters (eg., a and g), which ensure instant recognition of letterforms.

Heinemann Special offers further modified characters and kerning pairs ideal for dyslexic or special-needs use (eg., a, d, and b).

The Heinemann fonts were developed in partnership with children, literacy advisors, teachers of special needs/dyslexia, and primary-school teachers and are now available in response to hundreds of requests from publishers, designers, and teachers to purchase them. They have been tested in schools and learning institutions over an 8-year period, and they are a favorite for use in both print and electronic products. The modern, clean aesthetic of the fonts ensures that their use can spread beyond educational applications.