Eye charts

Eye charts from Cascadilla Press

Cascadilla Press offers a wide selection of unusual eye charts, from the traditional to the wacky. Ours may use fun alternative characters, but they're carefully designed to match the standard versions found in doctors' offices. Your guests may do a double-take! Our eye charts are available from CafePress.com; follow the links below to individual charts.

Cascadilla Press eye charts are not intended for medical or diagnostic purposes.

Traditional eye charts

Snellen eye chart

This traditional eye chart was developed by Herman Snellen in 1862. Each of the nine letters (also called optotypes) has uniformly thick lines and gaps, and each has a total height and width five times the line thickness.

Mirror image eye chart

The mirror image eye chart (or reversed eye chart) can be used in a smaller space by looking at it in a mirror. The total distance from the viewer to the mirror and from the mirror to the eye chart should total 20 feet.

Tumbling E eye chart

The tumbling E eye chart is for people who cannot read the alphabet. The person being tested simply needs to indicate which of the four directions the E is pointing.

Landolt C eye chart

The Landolt C eye chart is for people who cannot read the alphabet. The person being tested simply needs to indicate which of the eight directions the C is pointing.

Eye charts in non-Roman alphabets

Greek eye chart

The Greek eye chart uses letters designed in the same way as the traditional Snellen optotypes, with strokes and gaps of uniform thickness.

Japanese eye chart

The Japanese eye chart uses letters designed in the same way as the traditional Snellen optotypes, with strokes and gaps of uniform thickness.

Korean eye chart

The Korean (or hangul) eye chart uses letters designed in the same way as the traditional Snellen optotypes, with strokes and gaps of uniform thickness.

Russian/Cyrillic eye chart

The Russian or Cyrillic eye chart uses letters designed in the same way as the traditional Snellen optotypes, with strokes and gaps of uniform thickness.

Yiddish/Hebrew eye chart

The Hebrew or Yiddish eye chart uses a very different style of letters from the traditional Snellen optotypes.

Decorative eye charts

Eye chart with sports figures

Sports figures liven up the traditional structure of the eye chart.

Eye chart with animal silhouettes

Kids, veterinarians, and animal lovers think this eye chart is far more fun. Who knows, maybe it will work on your pet as well!

Eye chart with road signs

Let's test drivers on what really matters -- their ability to see a stop sign or a crosswalk warning.

Eye chart with dominoes

Domino tiles are much harder to read at a distance than simple letters, but who doesn't like a challenge?

Eye chart with hieroglyphs

Need to test the vision of an Egyptologist, or perhaps a long-dead Pharaoh?

Eye chart with runes

This eye chart draws from a runic alphabet.

IPA eye chart

This eye chart is entirely IPA symbols drawn from the International Phonetic Alphabet. It is a perfect gift for the linguist in your life.

Chemistry eye chart

This eye chart for chemistry classrooms and chemistry labs contains the first 50 chemical elements in order.

Eye chart with DNA bases

This eye chart contains just the letters for the four bases of DNA: A, T, G, and C. It's perfect for a biology classroom or genetics lab.

Eye charts with abstract symbols

Abstract symbols eye chart #1

The abstract symbols in this eye chart were developed by Herman Snellen in the 1800s.

Abstract symbols eye chart #2

The abstract symbols in this eye chart were developed by Herman Snellen in the 1800s.

Abstract symbols eye chart #3

This eye chart combines the sets of abstract symbols from #1 and #2.

Spoof eye charts

Eye chart with falling letters

What would happen if you shook an eye chart, and the letters began to fall?

Eye chart with blurring letters

Even if you have perfect vision, each line on this eye chart is blurrier than the line above it.

Eye chart with fading letters

The lines of letters fade to gray as you go down this eye chart.

Dyslexic eye chart

Some letters are reversed in this eye chart.

Eye chart with backwards letters

All of the letters in this eye chart are backwards. Leonardo da Vinci would have been comfortable with it.

Eye chart with upside-down letters

This eye chart has all the letters upside-down. A mirror will not help with this one.

Eye chart with evolving letters

As you look through this eye chart, you'll see the letters changing and evolving.

Custom eye charts

Want an eye chart with your name in it? Or an eye chart that advertises your business? We can create custom eye charts to your specifications. The cost for a custom eye chart delivered as an 11"x17" poster starts at $100, and the cost for a custom eye chart as a PDF file licensed for commercial use starts at $750. You just need to tell us which of our eye charts you want to start with, and exactly how you want it modified to meet your needs. We can change the letters on the eye chart, include fewer lines, change the color bars, and more.