More Efficiency by Using the Correct Font

Today it is important to think, act and print in a sustainable way. Therefore every manufacturer, company and consumer should find ways to save resources and protect the environment even during a print process. How is that possible? In fact, there are various approaches to increase the efficiency of print jobs. As usual it’s the little things that also count, e.g. the ink. Very few know that, when it comes to text documents, it also depends on the font you choose for your text. 14-year-old Suvir Mirchandani was the one to build awareness for this fact.

It All Started With the Font „Garamond“

The student from Dorseyville Middle School in Pittsburgh found out that his former school could have saved about 20.000 Dollars annually by simply changing its corporate typeface. In order to find out the most efficient and eco-friendly font Mirchandani enlarged the letters of several fonts, printed and weighed them. The font Garamond turned out to be the most cost-effective one. So he suggested all teachers should use this one in all their printed documents. Mirchandani also proposed this to the US government and other public authorities who could save several million dollars each year by switching to Garamond.

The designers Tim Wrigglesworth and Matt Robinson realized this idea in a more haptic way. To investigate the ink-efficiency of eight different fonts they sketched out large words with a ballpoint pen. The remaining ink in the barrel of the pen served as a graph. The result was the same. However, it is needless to say that other fonts also have their benefits: “Times New Roman”, for instance, is perfect for written texts, while “Impact” is a good font for headlines. In short, it always depends on the particular purpose.

How to Find out the Most Efficient Font

Especially in offices printing can result in big expenses. The following list includes several examples help reducing ink wastage.

ECOFONT

ECOFONT enables users to save up to 50 percent on ink and toner when printing. It is available for Word and Outlook and pokes tiny holes in often used fonts after its installation, such as Arial, Calibri, Verdana, Times New Roman and Trebuchet MS. The fascinating thing: In a little font size the gaps are not visible to the human eye.

Tintencenter

With the German tool “Tintencenter” users can find out whether their typeface is eco-friendly or not. To calculate the potential savings, the tool examines the font size, the number of pixels and the frequency of the individual letters in the text. Furthermore, it provides suggestions on alternate fonts, which use less ink.

Ryman Eco

The font
Ryman Eco uses 33 percent less ink and was specifically developed for this purpose by Dan Rhatigan. “I expected to be one step in a bigger conversation about how we can save things and to be one that triggers you to think about what else you can do to make an impact”, says the designer.