Typography | The Verge

Google’s latest Roboto variant is a font customizable to its core

2022-05-06T15:59:57-04:00

As someone who is really into fonts, I know that most people don't share my passion - but I genuinely think that anyone who cares at all about typography will have some interest in what Google announced on Thursday. If you've ever used anything made by Google, you've seen Roboto. Now, Google's introducing something called Roboto Flex. As the name implies, it's a version of its famous font that you can tweak and customize in a ton of ways.

I can sense I might be about to lose a lot of people, so let's try this: here's a gif showing all the customizable parameters Roboto Flex has. There's no trickery going on - I'm not changing a raster image …

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Google’s new retro-style font brings back serifs for more comfortable reading

2022-02-18T13:57:18-05:00

Google has a new version of its Roboto font, and it's bringing serifs back: the aptly named Roboto Serif, designed in collaboration with Greg Gazdowicz of Commercial Type to create a more readable serif companion to its Roboto Sans typeface.

The new font isn't just the old Roboto letters with some serifs slapped on, though: rather, each letter was redrawn from scratch to create a font that "thinks about Roboto, but is a new and original design," according to Google UX manager Rob Giampietro. The new font still uses the same vertical proportions of Roboto Sans, making it possible to mix the serif and sans-serif versions in a single design.

…

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The BBC is rolling out a new font designed for mobile screens

2017-08-06T11:39:23-04:00

The BBC announced on Thursday that it is changing its branding guidelines to BBC Sport, and that it is using the update to start rolling out a new font that will be used across the broadcaster's portfolio of TV and digital platforms. The new typeface is designed specifically to be seen clearly on mobile devices, and will save the broadcaster money.

The in-house font is called BBC Reith, and is named for the broadcaster's founder, Lord Reith. Colin Burns, the BBC's Chief Design Officer with Design & Engineering explained that the current fonts - Gill Sans, Arial, and Neue Helvetica - were "developed [in the] last century and work well in pri …

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Samsung developed its own font called SamsungOne

2016-07-25T12:33:03-04:00

Bespoke typefaces have become all the rage in Silicon Valley. Google has its Roboto font family that's become a cornerstone of the identity of many of their Material Design applications. Apple has its custom-made San Francisco, which recently became the default typeface across the entire Apple family of devices. And while Microsoft can't take credit for developing Segoe, the company has made the font its own, using it as a core part of the Microsoft, Windows, and Office branding.

For everything from smartphones to TVs and refrigerators

Now, Samsung is joining in, with the unveiling of the SamsungOne font, a typeface that hopes to help give a …

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London’s public transportation system is getting a new screen-friendly typeface

2016-06-15T09:34:17-04:00

Starting next month, London's public transportation system will start looking a little different. Transport for London (TfL) will begin rolling out a new typeface for the London Underground and the city's bus system. The typeface is called Johnston100, an iteration of the TfL's original Johnston typeface, which has been around since 1916.

100 years is a good time for a change

To recognize the 100th anniversary of Johnston, the TfL asked typeface studio Monotype to revamp Johnston's look for a modern era. As Wired points out, this translated to making Johnston more readable on phones and computers - something the original designers never had …

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DC Comics went old-school for its new logo

2016-05-17T15:20:57-04:00

DC Comics has a brand-new logo. The company announced today that, as a tribute to its 80-year history as one of the biggest comics publishers in the industry, the DC logo would return to the simple typographic styling of the past. The decision lines up with the upcoming DC Universe: Rebirth Special #1 comic, due out later this month, which will see its comics universe embrace classic continuity and storytelling without rebooting the work of the last several years.

"Built on what's come before while looking to tomorrow."

DC's chief creative officer Geoff Johns said in a statement that the decision is rooted in a desire to honor the company's …

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Google’s best logo has no Google in it

2015-12-09T12:07:32-05:00

Google Ventures, the fund started in 2009 to invest in emerging technologies and companies, has introduced a new logo this week and, well, it's the sharpest and best-looking logo in Google's history. The funny thing about it, though, is that it's not a Google logo or even a Google company anymore: after Google's corporate reshuffle, the venture capital arm is now under the auspices of the new Alphabet super-company and is underlining its separation from Google by rebranding to the new name of GV. Just like that sweet, minimalist monogram.

GV is using the right arm of the V in the logo as a design element in its presentation materials and the …

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Amazon improves typeface and layout on Kindle for iPhone

2015-05-28T07:53:14-04:00

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Amazon's new Kindle-friendly typeface is now available on iOS. The Bookerly typeface was quietly introduced last year on Fire tablets, replacing Caecilia as its standard. The serif typeface was created specifically for the Kindle and, like Google's recently announced Literata, is designed explicitly for e-books. As FastCoDesign reports, Bookerly combines elements from both Caecilia and Baskerville, resulting in a typeface that more closely resembles printed typography.

Also bundled in the update for the iOS Kindle app is a new layout engine that creates smoother typesetting across pages. Gone is the absolute justification that the company h …

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Google’s Roboto font for Android and Chrome is now open source

2015-05-26T14:18:25-04:00

Google introduced the Roboto font nearly four years ago as part of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Since then, it's grown to be the default for Android and Chrome OS, and it's a big part of Google's overall Material Design language that we're seeing spread across many of its web services (like Inbox and Google Play Music) as well. Google released the font to the public not long afterwards, but today the company's taking things a step further and making the font open source - everything related to Roboto is now up on GitHub, including a "revamped font production toolchain" that was used to create the font in the first place.

It's an interestin …

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A new font based on Einstein’s handwriting is being developed

2015-05-05T15:18:19-04:00

Imagine reading Tinder messages seemingly handwritten by Albert Einstein himself. That future is quickly approaching, thanks to a new Kickstarter project that lifts Einstein's handwriting and turns it into a fully realized font.

Six months to develop

The project, headed up by typographer Harald Geisler and dancer Elizabeth Waterhouse, involves painstakingly analyzing notes provided by the Albert Einstein Archives to design each character. It took six months to develop a working prototype, and funding will allow the team to devote another six months to completing the font.

As of this writing, the project has $9,193 of its $15,000 goal, so it …

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