| Description: |
The Verdana typeface family was designed specifically to address the challenges of on-screen display. Designed by world renowned type designer Matthew Carter, and hand-instructed by leading hinting expert, Tom Rickner, these sans serif fonts are unique examples of type design for the computer screen.
In its proportions and stroke weight, the Verdana family resembles sans serifs such as Frutiger, and Johnston's typeface for the London Underground.
The Verdana fonts are stripped of features which are redundant when applied to the screen. They exhibit new characteristics, derived from the pixel rather than the pen, the brush or the chisel. The balance between straight, curve and diagonal has been meticulously tuned to ensure that the pixel patterns at small sizes are pleasing, clear and legible. Commonly confused characters, such as the lowercase i j l, the uppercase I J L and the number 1, have been carefully drawn for maximum individuality Ð an important characteristic of fonts designed for on-screen use. And the various weights have been designed to create sufficient contrast from one another ensuring, for example, that the bold font is heavy enough even at sizes as small as 9 ppem, or 7pt on the screen.
Another reason for the legibility of these fonts on the screen is their generous width and spacing.
At low resolutions, because of the limited number of pixels, letters cannot differ very much. But often the smallest differences can often change the whole look of a page, or a screen full of type. |