Monotype Imaging says that it is introducing a suite of scalable fonts for mobile phones - the first in the industry to offer handset manufacturers, wireless operators, content providers and publishers the ability to integrate into their products readily available typefaces. Tailored for viewing on small screens, the fonts are based on the OpenType format and are being released as theme-based designs.
"The advantages of fonts can substantially benefit the cell phone market, where growing segments related to multimedia services and content, Web browsing, e-mail, mobile applications, personalized user interface development and office document exchange all depend on text," said John Seguin, senior vice president and general manager of Monotype Imaging's Display Imaging group. "The mobile phone is transforming itself into an indispensable personal computer. At Monotype Imaging, we recognize this revolution and are leading the industry to address and fulfill mobile text needs. The release of our new theme-based font suite is an important step that demonstrates our commitment."
Monotype Imaging's first font suite for mobile devices was derived from the company's Monotype and ITC font libraries, which comprise more than 3,000 typefaces. Traditional, contemporary, headline and display designs were considered during the selection process.
"We looked for designs that displayed high levels of legibility and were capable of establishing a brand identity or theme," Haley said. "We searched for designs with moderate contrast in stroke thickness to take maximum advantage of screen resolution. We looked for typefaces with a marked distinction between medium and bold weights to optimize communication hierarchy, and we sought typefaces with distinct design traits for easy differentiation. In some cases, characters were hand-tuned to ensure maximum fidelity and readability at small sizes."
Fortunately - the collection does not seem to include the much loathed Comic Sans font."
Posted to the site on 1st June 2006
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/17621.php