03 Nov 2009, Posted by Dan in Highlighted Type, 1 Comments

Ecofont

Oh boy. I realize that being green and conscious of the environment is on top of everybody’s minds these days, but how far do you take it? All the way to a font? That is what happened with Ecofont– the font that in my opinion looks like Swiss cheese mated with Verdana. I know, harsh.

Font or Swiss cheese?

Lets start with the idea behind this project: we all are guilty of printing lots of stuff out, and as a result we tap our environment as paper and ink are used. Ecofont most likely won’t help with the paper consumption problem, but its goal is to reduce the amount of toner or ink you’re using with its tiny little holes whittled all over it. It comes in two forms– one being the freebie version and the other a business solution, a.k.a. the one that’s going to cost you a few pennies. So while I’m not a fan of this one, I do applaud that someone did take the time to look into a solution that would wean us off toner. However, I just don’t see this as an aesthetically pleasing solution.

When I do take time to notice how people in offices go about printing things off (particularly the internet), I’m not always sure that the font is where we need to start when looking to reduce ink consumption. Consider the last time you wanted to print off a page from a website. Browsers are smart enough to remove the background (which saves a ton just in itself), and if you’re really lucky the web designer took the time to create a print style sheet. But the real problem I see are huge images and advertisements that longer blog posts or more graphic websites still contain. Depending on the length of any given article, even removing a handful of ads will most likely save more ink than Ecofont. If you’re working out of word, consider reducing font sizes from 12pt to a 10pt font– not only are you then dealing with a smaller font, but the reduced size actually helps you look more professional when its printed out. It’s what we do at my day job in our magazine– 10pt font with a 15pt line height and it turns out very well and readable.

If you still feel the need to go out and save the environment though, Ecofont has its own website that you can easily download the freebie or purchase the business edition from.