Ecofont....real potential to do good? or just another FSC fiasco?

[oxburger]

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery on ecofonts? Does anyone think that something like this could eventually have a place in offset printing? Or just home use?

 

[Steijnemans]

not for offset

not for offset

Just took a look at their website. They say it is not meant for offset, just for (office) printing. My quess about the Ecofont: the concept should work, but their first free font could be done a whole lot better.

 

[LoneGoose]

Who is really going to select the eco font in Word? and how are they possibly going to market it enough that home users become aware of it? Unless it becomes the 'default' sans-serif font in some operating system I can't see it really taking off.

An interesting idea, though, and maybe would be more successful building the ink saving holes into the regular home/office fonts like Arial and Times. Or something in the home/office printer driver that does it automatically.

 

[oxburger]

It is a cool idea, but as you both suggest, it will be a long time until someone comes up with a eco version of every font out there. Once the designers get ahold of it, they'll jump on the bandwagon like they're now doing with FSC. With the press gains of some shops out there, it doesn't matter how big they make the hole, the pressmen will find a way to plug it.....

 

[sgirard]

Gordo had a post on this a while back:

Quality In Print: Ink savings using solid screening - part 1 of 2

 

[jlazerus]

The "ecofont" is considered ridiculous by serious people and should have NO IMPACT on professional commercial printing. There's a hole in my typeface, dear Vera, dear Vera | Typophile

Regular Guy's Experiments in www

 

[gordo]

The "ecofont" is considered ridiculous by serious people and should have NO IMPACT on professional commercial printing.

As I mentioned in my blog that sgirard pointed to, the punching of holes in solid areas (like type) to reduce ink consumption has been around for years. It's most often used in offset for newspaper work. Punching holes in solids is also a technique that is used in flexo printing to increase the density and evenness of solids.

So, I don't know how much impact the ecofont itself may have - however, the principle behind it is being used in presswork today.

best, gordon p