>To develop a new typeface for this digital age.

>So we read most things from computer screens now where as before we read from print. So some might think the Typefaces of old would work well for us today right? Nope and even thoguh we have been designing typefaces on computers for computers they weren't really though out for the wide range screen sizes and densities we use. From my quick bit of research Digi Grotesk was the first digitally created Typeface (sorry I'm omitting terminal typefaces as they are a product of engineers and not typedesigner) but it was designed with a CRT (cathode ray tube aka non lcd/plasma screen displays think about old tv's and computer monitors) and they had a much lower pixel density compared to current displays.

What is pixel density, I guess I could put a picture up.

There we are so that above is what a crt looked like when you got really close, about half the range of viewing before my mom would shriek I would go blind. There are other aspects that are different like scan lines and refresh rate that are also different between crt and lcds too but I don't want to go on too much.

So we have many typefaces that are designed in the 80's for use on computers (mostly to avoid paying for them ahem Microsoft) Georgia, Tahoma and the like. They emulated fonts we already knew like Helvetica became Arial but we are now finding they just aren't up to snuff for our new screens, and the more simple a font is the less retention in our memory fo we have a new age of font upon us and we are armed and well equipped to handle the situation.

I may have made mention of Nokia PURE, this is a font designed for Nokia for use on small screens and they have made it a playful one at that. The forms seem much more interactive with each other and legibility on smaller screens has increased greatly. I wish I could run it on my mobil to be honest. Nokia has a great blog about their design here.

So now fontshop was the first foundry to address web typography with a web pack of typefaces but they have taken it a step further and have a new typeface Azuro that has been tested on all major mobil platforms and was designed with them in mind. So if you think typography is just the realm of print and letter press you have another thing coming, who do you think is going to design those new apps for tablets and phones, or the layout of the new interactive zines? Here is a great article about the development of Azuro here.