Saturday, December 13, 2008

Ecofont Saves Your Ink [Printing]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/iMUP71TAuI8/ecofont-saves-your-ink

Ecofont is the brainchild of Colin Willems, a font with tiny circles placed within the characters to reduce the total ink/toner laid upon the paper. Much like you can purchase pocket knives with skeletonized handles to reduce weight, Ecofont reduces the volume of printing supplies consumed.

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.

While not intended to replace all fonts, for throw away printing that compromises the bulk of what most users print it's an ideal solution. Legible driving instructions for instance, with less waste.