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Ecofont - Put holes in your fonts to save ink
Posted by Martijn van Berkel in
12 May 2009 — 11:12am
12 May 2009 — 11:12am
I don't know if this is already posted here, but I saw this when browsing the web:
"Ecofont
The prints we make for our 'daily use' not only use paper, but also ink. According to SPRANQ creative communications (Utrecht, The Netherlands) your ink cartridges (or toner) could last longer.
SPRANQ has therefore developed a new font: the Ecofont.
"After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well."
Appealing ideas are often simple: how much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability? After extensive testing with all kinds of shapes, the best results were achieved using small circles. After lots of late hours (and coffee) this resulted in a font that uses up to 20% less ink. Free to download, free to use."
It can be downloaded for free. To download and for more information, see here:
http://www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html
What do you guys think of it?
Kind regards,
Martijn
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12 May 2009 — 11:16am
http://typophile.com/node/52616
12 May 2009 — 11:18am
That people so often consider this vulgar greenwashing worthy of serious discussion is a sad reflection on the state of discourse in the design field.
12 May 2009 — 11:20am
jackson: I did not get any hits when searching for "ecofont". This topic can be removed then. ;)
12 May 2009 — 11:22am
It has been talked about a few times, and I think it is ridiculous. You can achieve the same thing by using a lighter style, or maybe NO VOWELS. :)
12 May 2009 — 11:47am
You can achieve the same thing by using a lighter style, or maybe NO VOWELS.
The only thing it should achieve is to create attention for the webdesign agency. And it apparently works very well. The website is nothing but viral marketing.
12 May 2009 — 11:51am
I love Stewf's answer at Justified West when asked about this - a better approach to saving ink would be to edit.
12 May 2009 — 4:36pm
HLL Y, M SVNG TH PLNT!!!
12 May 2009 — 4:48pm
Yeah, I remember reading an article somewhere that while eco font does help reduce ink usage, other fonts can actually reduce it even more without having to use a typeface with holes. Wish I could find the article again...
12 May 2009 — 5:04pm
Here it is... http://farlukar.110mb.com/stuff.php#ecofont
12 May 2009 — 6:09pm
I'll bet outline fonts save even more ink... ;-)
12 May 2009 — 6:17pm
... .... .. —, Morse code is even better.
12 May 2009 — 9:08pm
> Morse code is even better.
Just emboss the whole thing.
13 May 2009 — 12:49am
"Just emboss the whole thing."
Yeah, Braille for all!
13 May 2009 — 1:28am
NO VOWELS
FontShop invented that kind of eco-friendly font a little over two years ago: FF Mt, available free from the FontFont website (scroll down halfway).
13 May 2009 — 5:43am
I have just done an Eco version of Chevin for a client who wanted to jump on this particular bandwagon. Silly idea, I thought, but what the hell, I need to make a living.
The standard Chevin was reversed out of the pic initially. Using the Eco font on the pic entirely defeats the object of itself as it actually uses more ink!
Nick Cooke
13 May 2009 — 6:42am
Nick, did you license the technique from SPRANQ?
13 May 2009 — 7:11am
What, making dots in letters? Do they own holes? Did I need to?
No I didn't.
Nick Cooke
13 May 2009 — 9:19am
Originaly they said...
“The inventive designing method of the Ecofont - ommitting spaces in each letter to decrease the black surface of the letter and thus save ink by printing - is intellectual property of SPRANQ creative communications, Utecht, The Netherlands. Imitation of this technique is prohibited.”
It seems as if that wording is gone. So you're okay. :-)
However, the EU reserves the right to fine you for other crimes.
13 May 2009 — 10:08am
BTW: Love your pipe, Aaron!
13 May 2009 — 10:56am
I don't really think this is going to help the environment...
Why do people keep working from the bottom up to reduce our impact on the planet?
13 May 2009 — 10:59am
>Why do people keep working from the bottom up to reduce our impact on the planet?
Where would you start?
As much as we can poke holes in the eco-font principals it has made people and organizations start thinking and talking about printed waste.
13 May 2009 — 11:22am
@frode frank. Thanks! I really like it too.
@sii. It seems to me that putting holes or spaces into a character is not something they can claim is intellectual copyright. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of characters with holes in them — see an inverted Rosewood for example. Sure, the font file itself is their intellectual property, but you can't copyright a idea (at least under US law). It is like building a car. You can design a car to be environmentally friendly, but that doesn't stop another car maker from trying to make an environmentally friendly car too. In fact, an article on TypeRight seems to back up this line of thought http://www.typeright.org/feature4.html.
Of course, as you said, the wording appears to be gone from their site, so maybe they realized they couldn't enforce it. Nick is probably safe :)
13 May 2009 — 6:09pm
Curiouser and curiouser!
13 May 2009 — 6:15pm
Just to prove I'm not making this stuff up... ;-)
http://cc.msnscache.com/cache.aspx?q=%22the+inventive+designing+method+o...
13 May 2009 — 8:35pm
It seems that the best way to save ink is to not use it.
13 May 2009 — 9:03pm
I don't think they reserved the rights on square holes. Or lines.
Or tiny subliminal messages.(... "buy more ink")
-=®=-
13 May 2009 — 9:10pm
>Or tiny subliminal messages
Perhaps the cut outs could be tiny HP logos ;-)
13 May 2009 — 11:58pm
The cutouts are what you make the Morse of ...
14 May 2009 — 3:52am
They have holes in donuts to save flour.
14 May 2009 — 8:30am
Surely they do that to save dough? ;-)
17 May 2009 — 9:33am
Is there an algorithm that will "eco" any typeface for you automatically?
(there's a computer science PhD comp for any of you out there)
18 May 2009 — 7:33am
>there’s a computer science PhD comp for any of you out there
Any researcher taking this on would do well to adopt a shotgun approach.
18 May 2009 — 12:24pm
@ sii;
Shotgun approach? Or is that a joke I missed… Not quite sure I understand the connection.
18 May 2009 — 12:35pm
As a joke it was full of holes. Sorry.
18 May 2009 — 7:30pm
Sii is trigger-happy today!
19 May 2009 — 8:42am
@sii: I assumed you meant this
_______________________________________________
Ever since I chose to block pop-ups, my toaster's stopped working.
19 May 2009 — 8:48am
Meanwhile, by using ecofont on the web, they are forcing computer monitors to display more white and therefore using more energy that way than a black font would.
19 May 2009 — 4:40pm
It is not healthy to play with your Meccano set when you are over eighteen.