Typeface Designer's Struggle With Techno-Glitches

Currently there are many factors that make a font appear very different on different computer screens. Designer Jonathan Hoefler explains: “The Web site is delivered by one cluster of hardware to another, often with a different operating system, different browser and, in some cases, different pieces of software. That’s a very long chain.” Because of this problem, designers are trying to make their typefaces clearer by using little tricks, like making the enclosed spaces in certain letters bigger than they need to be. Designers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobais Frere-Jones have been working together to create new fonts since 1989. They draw inspiration anywhere from 19th-century circus posters to an old Port Authority Bus Terminal sign in New York. The team just released 29th type family called Vitesse this past month. Considering the amount of work that goes into their fonts consisting of over 130 different designs they are very frustrated when their designs are distorted through the web. Hoefler and Frere-Jones are collaborating with software engineers in order to solve this technology transfer problem. (See original article here)