Author Topic: Google designing the font of the future (Read 18550 times)

Curt · « **on:** July 17, 2014, 09:59 AM »

New York Magazine has an article by a Kevin Roose, named "Google Is Designing the Font of the Future". It's quite interesting, but too long to merely copy & paste - so you will have to go yourself to read it:

http://nymag.com/dai...t-of-the-future.html

Google Is Designing the Font of the Future.
It's called "Roboto," and it works on everything.
-nymag

Latest revision:

(click to enlarge to 991x606 pixels):

15-google-robotic-typeface-abc.w560.h343.2x.jpg

Google designing the font of the future

http://nymag.com/dai...t-of-the-future.html

tomos · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2014, 10:06 AM »

always enjoy reading about / looking at fonts

The thread title made me think of a slimmed down version...

"Google, designing the future"

40hz · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2014, 11:08 AM »

I love typography.

That said, anything that increases readability is laudable in my book.

Some of the aesthetes and designers may be offended by placing readability ahead of art - or not paying sufficient homage to long tradition and those children of lesser gods who design typefaces. It's true that beauty and readability aren't mutually exclusive goals. But when push comes to shove, letters and text are meant to be read. Everything else comes second to that.

Unfortunately, there's a growing tendency on the part of some designers (many of which don't - or won't read ) to see type as "just another graphic element." Which is a perfect example of the tail wagging the dog.

IMHO, if Droid was anything to go by, I welcome Google's latest foray into type design. My only question is: where I can download it?

--------------------------------------
Addendum:

You can download it here.

Deozaan · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2014, 11:32 AM »

You can download it here.
-40hz (July 17, 2014, 11:08 AM)

Wha? What does Stephen Elop, Microsoft, or Nokia have to do with Google or the Roboto font?

I thought this thread was about Roboto, which can be downloaded here. (Click the down arrow in the top right corner for download options.)

EDIT: You can also get access to all the Google Web Fonts (and sources) here: https://code.google....googlefontdirectory/

40hz · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2014, 12:10 PM »

Wha? What does Stephen Elop, Microsoft, or Nokia have to do with Google or the Roboto font?
-Deozaan (July 17, 2014, 11:32 AM)

Absolutely nothing. It's obviously a bad link I had that is now corrected. Thx.

Curt · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2014, 04:37 PM »

Thank you, Ed, for giving the right link for Android users. However, it is not my impression that these fonts will do well in a textual document on a large desktop monitor - they look so awful here, that I already am planing to remove them again.

Also Thank You for writing when push comes to shove; I can't remember ever reading that phrase before!

when push comes to shove
English Phrase
(idiomatic) When the pressure is on; when the situation is critical or urgent; when the time has come for action, even if it is difficult
-wiktionary

Normally I hate Google. Mainly because I quite often will want the oldest version (= the original version) of a file, and Google refuses to look for it. But the Internet includes so many misquotes, and falsified pictures, or stolen material, and if the oldest file not is available, how will we ever know that we are not being lied to? Google is in some areas doing far more bad, than good. Oops! I did it again! Sorry for going astray. I like these fonts, but something about them is not yet perfect.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2014, 04:59 PM »

Sometimes when posting I feel like I'm using the font of the future. The typos don't show up until after I hit the Post Button.

40hz · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2014, 05:29 PM »

Thank you, Ed, for giving the right link for Android users. However, it is not my impression that these fonts will do well in a textual document on a large desktop monitor - they look so awful here, that I already am planing to remove them again.
-Curt (July 17, 2014, 04:37 PM)

I guess it's one of those YMMV things. Running under Linux on a laptop @ 1600 x 900 screen resolution, it looks more than acceptable to me. Here's a screenshot from LibreOffice Writer. It's running default style with no text format tweaking. This is RobotoRegular at 12pt:

The screenshot is noticeably fuzzier than the text displays in Libre. Inside the wordprocessor it's very sharp and clear. I coud see using it in FocusWriter or Libre for drafts. Haven't seen what it looks like printed since I'm out of toner right now. I'd better do an office supplies run real soon...

40hz · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2014, 05:35 PM »

Sometimes when posting I feel like I'm using the font of the future. The typos don't show up until after I hit the Post Button.

-MilesAhead (July 17, 2014, 04:59 PM)

LOL! However, on an iPhone that would be considered a feature. Their spellcheck has a mind of its own.

40hz · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2014, 05:46 PM »

something about them is not yet perfect.
-Curt (July 17, 2014, 04:37 PM)

If you want font perfection, look no further (IMO) than Hermann Zapf 's Optima (as well as almost all his other typefaces); Robert Slimbach's Minion and Myriad; and Rudolf Ruzicka's Fairfield, Lake Informal, Transitional 551, and Ruzicka Freehand.

Jibz · « **Reply #10 on:** July 18, 2014, 03:15 AM »

Just for the record, the download links given so far (v1.1 and v1.2) appear to be for versions of Roboto before the re-design mentioned in the article (check the R K and 1 glyphs for instance).

There seems to be a v2.0 available for download here:

http://www.droid-lif...and-material-design/

Curt · « **Reply #11 on:** July 18, 2014, 04:17 AM »

I have removed the old version and installed this up-to-date (July 2014) Roboto font from Google's page http://www.google.co...ml#typography-roboto

Roboto

Since the Ice Cream Sandwich release, Roboto has been the standard typeface for Android. In this version, Roboto has been refined extensively to work across the wider set of supported platforms. It is slightly wider and rounder, giving it greater clarity and making it more optimistic.

File last modified: 01-July-2014:
RobotoTTF.zip (1237.93 kB - downloaded 277 times.)
-Google typography

Deozaan · « **Reply #12 on:** July 18, 2014, 10:16 AM »

Wha? What does Stephen Elop, Microsoft, or Nokia have to do with Google or the Roboto font?
-Deozaan (July 17, 2014, 11:32 AM)

Absolutely nothing. It's obviously a bad link I had that is now corrected. Thx.
-40hz (July 17, 2014, 12:10 PM)

Sorry if that came across as overly critical. In retrospect I see it would have been better to simply inform you of the bad link.

Just for the record, the download links given so far (v1.1 and v1.2) appear to be for versions of Roboto before the re-design mentioned in the article (check the R K and 1 glyphs for instance).

There seems to be a v2.0 available for download here:

http://www.droid-lif...and-material-design/
-Jibz (July 18, 2014, 03:15 AM)

Thanks! I didn't realize the link I gave was for an older edition of the font.

Renegade · « **Reply #13 on:** July 18, 2014, 11:21 AM »

There's one blog I like where the fellow used an unreadable font - it was just painful. He quickly replaced the font when I messaged him, and it's so much better... Fonts matter. A lot.

Many Chinese and Korean fonts are horrible when used for English (or any Roman alphabet language).

I probably won't download the font as I don't do any desktop publishing, but I may do it if I decide to release any more software.

Curt · « **Reply #14 on:** February 07, 2015, 08:13 AM »

Roboto: 1.21MB
Noto: 363.5MB

Roboto and Noto

Since the Ice Cream Sandwich release, Roboto has been the standard typeface on Android. Since Froyo, Noto has been the standard typeface on Android for all languages not covered by Roboto. Noto is also the standard typeface for all languages on Chrome OS.

To support all languages worldwide, Google recommends using Roboto for languages that use the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts and Noto for all other languages.
-Google Noto Fonts

The Noto family is already 98 fonts!!!

Read http://www.google.co...pography-roboto-noto
and http://www.google.com/get/noto/cjk.html
and http://www.google.com/get/noto/#/

40hz · « **Reply #15 on:** February 07, 2015, 08:41 AM »

Looks good. However when I went to get their recommended All-in-one CJK super OTC font from the link on their download page, all I got was this:

Same went for any other download link on the download page.

Oh well.

Tuxman · « **Reply #16 on:** February 07, 2015, 09:03 AM »

Fonts do matter, but it seems that there are different opinions about what's readable and what's not.
(Especially as a programmer, it's hard to find the perfect font. Consolas? Source Pro? ...)

I prefer Droid Sans to Roboto. Not sure why.

40hz · « **Reply #17 on:** February 07, 2015, 09:47 AM »

I see from the info it was designed by Monotype.

Small surprise it's as well done as it is.

Curt · « **Reply #18 on:** February 07, 2015, 05:53 PM »

eh... I can easily Save Target As... and download all 108MB ( https://noto.googlec..._cjk/NotoSansCJK.ttc ) but Windows Explorer claims NotoSansCJK.ttc is not a valid font file. Should it be renamed to .OTF?
$:-\$
Modified: No, it shouldn't!

Curt · « **Reply #19 on:** February 10, 2015, 12:21 PM »

The full CJK family unpacked from "Noto all languages" is 28 files taking up a total of 438MB
- it was taking up all of the container, except 6MB!

J-Mac · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2015, 06:33 AM »

Looks OK to me... As long as web designers refrain from using it in a light gray color on a white or gray background!!!

Jim