Une police de caractères créée pour renforcer l’identité distinctive de CBC/Radio-Canada sur toutes les plateformes du diffuseur public est maintenant disponible sur Google Fonts dans plusieurs langues (dont les langues autochtones parlées au Canada) utilisant les caractères latins.
CBC/Radio-Canada est le diffuseur public du Canada. Son mandat est de renseigner, d'éclairer et de divertir, afin de renforcer la culture et la diversité canadienne à la radio, la télé et sur les plateformes numériques. À titre de diffuseur public, CBC/Radio-Canada est fier d’offrir publiquement sa police de caractères par le biais des polices de caractères Google.
De style humaniste, elle se démarque par ses angles et ses empattements distinctifs. Sa hauteur d’x assure une excellente lisibilité conformément aux normes d’accessibilité numérique, ce qui la rend très performante lorsqu’utilisée en texte continu.
La police Radio-Canada a été créée en 2017 par le designer et typographe montréalais Charles Daoud, en collaboration avec Coppers and Brasses et Alexandre Saumier Demers. Elle a été conçue spécifiquement pour CBC/Radio-Canada afin de répondre à ses besoins de diffusion de contenus, tant sur le numérique qu'à la télévision ou qu'en imprimé.
En 2018, la police Radio-Canada a raflé trois distinctions, dans la catégorie Design de police de caractères aux Communication Arts Typography, Applied Arts Design Annual et Grand Prix Grafika.
Plusieurs optimisations ont vu le jour en 2021 grâce à la collaboration d’Eli Heuer. Il a développé la fonction variable de la police de caractères basée sur les deux familles statiques, augmentant au passage les glyphes originaux (de 490 à 679) et les langues latines (de 106 à 317).
En 2022, Jacques Le Bailly (Baron von Fonthausen), avec l’expertise d’Aaron Bell, a optimisé la police afin de supporter les langues autochtones du Canada (dont Sechelt, Algonquin, Ojibwé, Carrier, Chipewyan et d’autres langues ajoutées en continu).
La police Radio-Canada est offerte en deux largeurs (Regulier et Condensé), et cinq graisses (Léger à Gras) ainsi qu’en fonte variable.
Publié par Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist
A typeface made to give a specific identity and distinction to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio-Canada’s public broadcasting platforms is now available on Google Fonts in many languages using the Latin writing system, including many indigenous languages spoken in Canada.
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster. Its mandate is to inform, enlighten, entertain, and strengthen Canadian culture and diversity on radio, television, and digital platforms. As part of this mandate, CBC/Radio-Canada is proud to release its original typeface publicly and make it available through Google Fonts.
The Radio-Canada typeface was created in 2017 by Montreal-based designer and typographer Charles Daoud, in collaboration with Coppers and Brasses and Alexandre Saumier Demers.
The humanist style stands out with distinctive angles and subtle curves. In compliance with digital accessibility standards, the font’s x-height is intended to increase legibility, making it very effective when used in continuous text.
In 2018, the Radio-Canada typeface won three awards, in the Font Design category at Communication Arts Typography, Applied Arts Design Annual and at Grand Prix Grafika.
Several optimizations were made in 2021 thanks to Eli Heuer’s contributions. He expanded the static font into a variable font and increased the character set (490 to 679) and the number of supported Latin languages (106 to 317).
In 2022, Jacques Le Bailly (Baron von Fonthausen), with the expertise of Aaron Bell, expanded the font to include support of indigenous languages used in Canada, such as Sechelt, Algonquin, Ojibway, Carrier, and Chipewyan (more languages to be released).
The Radio-Canada typeface is offered in two widths (Regular and Condensed) and five weights (Light to Bold); and as a variable font.
As part of our larger effort to make great type accessible in more languages, Google Fonts is pleased to announce that the Japanese type foundry Morisawa has made 2 BIZ Universal Design (UD) font families available on Google Fonts, under the SIL Open Font License. These Gothic and Mincho designs, available in regular and bold weights and proportional and full width styles, are now also available in Google Workspace
“Having these fonts available in Japan allows Google Education to align with the most widely used fonts in education publishing in Japan,” said Stuart Miller, Head of Marketing for Google Education in Asia Pacific (APAC). “This makes it easier for partners to collaborate with Google Education. It also ensures a more consistent, inclusive, delightful experience for the millions of teachers and students that use Google tools.”
Drawing on extensive end-user evaluation, the BIZ UD typefaces were developed using the principles of universal design (UD) to ensure legibility (the ease of differentiating individual characters) and readability (the ease of reading text overall). BIZ UD fonts are especially suited for conveying text accurately—for example, in educational settings, corporate communication environments, and other places that use ICT.
Earlier versions of these fonts are available as part of the Windows 10 Japanese Supplemental Fonts package. Morisawa and Google collaborated with Type Network to update the fonts to the latest Google Fonts technical specifications for web fonts, and expand the Latin glyph set.
BIZ UD is available in Gothic (BIZ UDGothic and BIZ UDPGothic) and Mincho (BIZ UDMincho and BIZ UDPMincho) in two weights (Regular and Bold). Try them out and let us know what you think!
About the type foundries
Morisawa is Japan’s leading font foundry that has never wavered from its commitment to undertaking research and development in typography since its establishment in 1924 – the year it invented the first Japanese phototypesetting machine. The company provides font licenses for over 1,500 typefaces of Japanese and multi-script, web font services, embedded fonts, and multilingual e-magazine/book solution services. Their library includes typefaces from TypeBank and its group company Jiyukobo.
Posted by Dave Crossland, Google Fonts Lead UX Programs and Operations Manager
Give your simulated text a realistic look while making it easy to add copy later on with Dan Ross’s Flow Fonts and Christian Naths’s Redacted.
Showing text in an early-stage wireframe can be distracting, even if it’s just Lorem ipsum placeholder copy. After all, a successful wireframe is clean and simple, with just enough information to communicate an idea. But how do you convey “this is text” without showing text?
One popular technique is to draw shapes that resemble a block of redacted text. (Redacted text is usually used as a security or privacy measure in a document to make certain words unreadable.)
Another technique is to use handwritten scribbles. This creates a sketch-like look that’s especially suited to quick concepting.
Examples of text substitution styles used in wireframing. Left: Redacted Script, a handwritten scribble style. Right: Redacted text style.
But instead of simulating redacted text with scribbles or shapes, now you can use a typeface to achieve the same effect.
Flow Rounded in use
Flow Circular, Flow Block, and Flow Rounded from Dan Ross and Redacted from Christian Naths are four redacted text options. For a handwritten scribble style, try Nath’s Redacted Script, which is available in Light, Regular, and Bold.
Flow and Redacted not only make it easier to give your wireframes the look you want, they also make it easier to drop in copy later on (since you won’t have to replace shapes with text or switch out components). Plus, since fonts don’t destroy the underlying text data, all it takes is a single click to go from text to redacted text—and back again.
All five fonts are available now on fonts.google.com.
Posted by Sarah Daily, Brand and Content Consultant
日本語の記事を読む
This interview is a sequel to "Say Hello to our big new Japanese collection with Zen Fonts: Learn about the complex beauty of Japanese fonts." By Min-Young Kim
[Min] Hi, Mr. Ohira. Thanks for making time to talk about your fonts with us. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your pathway to starting this project?
[Ohira] Thanks for inviting me. It’s my pleasure to share my project on Google Fonts. I started my design career as a DTP operator for phototypesetting. The beauty of the typeface influenced me so much that I wanted to design one myself. Back then, the typesetting order came from several organizations, such as printing offices, publications, advertisers, etc. Each organization had different preferences for what kind of typefaces they wanted, but I always felt there should be something that they all have in common. With Zen Fonts, I aimed to create a highly legible, classy typeface that would work for any creative purpose, and that would live long past 100 years.
[Min] What kind of reaction did you get when you first released the Zen family?
[Ohira] The first typeface was released in 1997, the Zen Old Mincho, with only one Regular weight. To be honest, I didn’t get much reaction at that time. But the following year the typeface started to get some attention among designer communities; little by little, more and more designers contacted me to purchase the font. Back then I was so worried and not sure if I, the small independent vendor, could make a living from selling font licenses, but after releasing multiple weight families, the business became stable and it was all worth the hard work.
Zen Old Mincho
[Min] What did you focus on, or have in mind, regarding the readability of the font when you designed it?
[Ohira] In my opinion, traditional designs are friendlier to users and thus easy to read. People are always attracted to beautiful designs because they foster a smooth reading experience. A comfortable reading rhythm is created by controlling the dynamics. For these reasons, I believe traditional and beautiful design with well controlled dynamics brings high quality legibility, and so I focused on them when designing the Zen Fonts.
[Min] What kind of research did you do to create your font?
[Ohira] Old typefaces and books are the core base of my work. I used to look at them often for inspiration. I could see how the flavor in the old letters influenced the legibility, and I would apply those discoveries in my designs.
[Min] It’s amusing how you designed such a progressive typeface at that time from traditional books and letters. Why do you think there were no similar fonts like yours’ created before? Do you think the recent research or technology made it possible to create your font that didn’t exist previously?
[Ohira] There are a lot of antique old-style metal typefaces that have good legibility. Those old typefaces gave me many ideas that I applied to my work. I believe that the good legibility of Zen Fonts comes from pursuing traditional old-style legibility. But there are many ways to approach the issue. If more type designers focus on legibility, we can have a variety of Japanese fonts with high legibility.
[Min] Do you have any plans to expand your font families to multiple scripts? Are there any similar fonts that support multiple scripts?
[Ohira] I would love to expand the family, if possible. I believe that having a wide range of glyphs and supporting many scripts are very meaningful things to do. As for the latter question, I don’t think there are any Japanese fonts similar to Zen Fonts that support multiple scripts.
[Min] What do you think we can do to help designers recognize the many factors that go into choosing fonts—that there’s more to consider (depending on the purpose of the design, or who the design is for) than the look or style of the design?
[Ohira] Let me share my experience. I once got a commission to design a signage system for a public facility that needed to follow the principles of universal design. I offered the Zen Font family, but the client wanted to know a logical reason why this font should be used for this project. So I gave them a detailed explanation about the good legibility of the Zen Font. A few days later, the client’s answer was yes, and they said that they did not think a single font could matter this much on legibility, and that their views on fonts have changed completely. Then I realized that not many users recognize the legibility of fonts. So my answer is that we need more opportunities and places to communicate between users and type designers, to share, discuss, and ask questions about fonts.
[Min] What do you think is the next step for the current type and typography realm? Or, what do you wish already existed in the world for type and typography?
[Ohira] The number of fonts and type designers are increasing every year, but I’m afraid there aren’t enough fonts with memorable designs or good legibility. I wish that the type designers put more time to think deeply about the usage, purpose, and demand of the font. You need much more time than you think to design a font. This also means that the economic situation (budget and payment on font projects) and the environment of the realm should improve too.
[Min] Thank you for the wonderful insights and comments. This is the last question—what’s next for you in type & typography?
[Ohira] I’m not sure yet, but, probably wandering around the world to meet more letters and types.
About Yoshimichi Ohira
Ohira became a type designer after building his career in typography. He has designed 23 Japanese fonts and three Latin fonts. One of his major works is Zen Old Mincho N Family, which pursued traditional Japanese beauty. In addition to type design, he also works on creating metal seals (Hanko). Zen Fonts
[きむ] 本日はインタビューに応じていただき誠にありがとうございます。まず、大平さんについてご紹介いただけますでしょうか？どのような経緯でタイプデザイナーになり、Zenファミリーのプロジェクトを始めることになったのかぜひ聞かせてください。
[大平] ご招待くださりありがとうございます。私は写植でのDTPオペレーターを経験した際に、書体の美しさに触れ、私自身も書体を作りたいと思うようになりました。当時の組版発注者は、印刷、出版、映像、広告関係者でした。製作者によって指定書体に偏りがありましたが、その中でも共通する書体があることを知りました。Zen書体で目指したのは、どのような制作物にも共有できるオールマイティーな書体ファミリーです。そして、読みやすく美しい、息の長い100年続く書体を生み出したいと考えました。
[きむ] Zenファミリーをリリースした当時の反応はどうでしたか？
[大平] 1997年、ZENオールド明朝-R（Regular）は1ウエイトだけのリリースでした。正直に言うと、当時の反応は殆どありませんでした。しかし、翌年から徐々にデザイナーさん達のコミュニティなどで書体が認知されるようになり、ZENオールド明朝を探し求め、購入者がどんどん増えていったことを思い出します。当時を振り返ると、小さなベンダーがライセンス事業で本当に成り立つのか？とても不安でした。結果的にファミリー化も実現し、ここまで継続できたことは非常に意義のある経験でした。
[きむ] Zenファミリーをデザインする際に、高い可読性を持たせるためにどのようなことを意識しながら制作しましたか？
[大平] 伝統的なものは、親近感が湧くのでわかりやすい。美しいものには、惹かれるので違和感が生まれにくい。そしてメリハリは、強弱などがあり、可読にふさわしい心地よいリズムをつくると考えられます。これらの理由から「伝統的」や「美しい」、「メリハリ」には、質の高い可読性を呼び込む要因があると考えて、意識していました。
[きむ] 制作の際に、どのようなリサーチなどをされましたか？
[大平] 古い活字や古い書物をよく眺めました。文字の中に味わい深さを感じとり、可読性も感じられました。これらの文字から多くを学び、影響を受けました。私の書体制作の基盤となっています。
[きむ] あのような画期的な書体を古い書物等からお作りになったのは素晴らしいですね。それまでにZenファミリーのような書体が存在してなかった作られなかったのはなぜだと思いますか？現代の技術と研究があれば、Zenファミリーのような書体をもっと作ることは可能だと思いますか？
[大平] 過去の古い活字には高い可読性を持ったオールドスタイルの書体はたくさんありました。私はその古い書体から多くのヒントをいただき作品に反映させてきました。そして、オールドスタイルを重要視して読みやすさを追求した結果、Zenファミリーの「良い可読性」が得られたと思ってます。どこにアプローチするかが大切です。様々な可読性へのアプローチがあれば書体に多様性を育みます。そして、高い可読性を持つ書体がたくさん生まれてくると考えてます。
[きむ] 今後大平さんの書体を多言語展開をしたいと思いますか？Zenファミリーと似た方向性のほかの日本語書体の中で多言語展開しているものはありますか？
[大平] 文字の拡張や多言語展開はとても有意義なことだと思うので、ぜひ挑戦してみたいです。Zenファミリーに似た他の日本語書体で多言語展開しているものはないと思います。
[きむ] フォントを利用するユーザーのみなさんに、フォントによっていかに「読みやすさ」が変わるかを認識してもらうためには、どんなことができると思いますか？見た目のデザイン的な要素だけでなく、目的や読み手によってフォントの選定基準が変わることをもっと知ってもらうために、わたしたちができることはなにがあると思いますか？
[大平] 私の体験談をお話します。以前、バリアフリーに関わる公共施設のサイン計画について、デザイン会社から相談の依頼がありました。私はZenファミリーフォントを提案しましたが、クライアントはなぜそのフォントが適しているのか詳しく説明して欲しいとのことでした。そこで、私はいかにZen書体が読みやすいか詳しく説明しました。後日、クライアントから「今まで以上に書体と可読性の関係性について理解でき、書体の見方が変わりました」との連絡をいただきました。ユーザーと接するなかで「読みやすさ」について認識されている方は少ないと感じてます。ユーザーや書体デザイナーが気軽にフォントについて相談できる場所の提供や、意見を共有できる仕組みが必要なのかも知れません。
[きむ] 今現在のフォントやタイポグラフィ業界における課題はなんだと思いますか？
[大平] フォントや書体デザイナーの数が年々増えていますが、記憶に残るデザイン、良い可読性を持つフォントが少ないように感じてます。使われ方、目的、需要などを熟慮し、貴重な時間を惜しみなく使い、制作に挑んで欲しいと思います。フォント制作に挑むには多くの時間を必要とします。書体デザイナーの取り巻く環境、経済的な問題をクリアーできる仕組みも必要ではないでしょうか。
[きむ] 貴重なお時間をありがとうございました。最後になりますが、大平さんの書体やタイポグラフィにおける次の旅はどこに続きますか？
[大平] 今はわかりませんが、たぶん、文字との出会いを大切にした放浪の旅に出るかも知れません。
大平善道
文字組版と向かい合う中で、いつしか書体デザインに携わる。これまで和文23書体、欧文3書体の作品を製作し、代表作は、和文の伝統的な美しさを追求した「ZENオールド明朝Nファミリー」など。現在は印章で用いる古代文字（篆書）に関心を抱き、オリジナルデザインの文字で金属製印鑑を製作している。Zen Fontsきむみんよん日韓英トリリンガルのUIUX＆タイポグラフィコンサルタント。専門は多言語タイポグラフィ。日本の大手タイプファウンダリにてフォントのプロジェクトマネージャーを経て、現在は個人事務所Em Dash（エムダッシュ）を立ち上げ、様々なプロジェクトに参加している。近年ではGoogle Fontsとの日本語および韓国語のフォント開発、Adobe Creative Cloudの東アジア言語のUXリサーチ＆デザイン、D&AD Awards 2021にてタイプデザイン部門の審査委員などに携わっている。タイポグラフィの知識を活かし、フォントの可能性を広げ、より多くの人々に文字とフォントの楽しさを伝えていくことを目標としている。 @mintoming AtypI presentation
