Late in 2010, our team spent hours learning more about our users through surveys and traditional usability methods. In our survey, users spoke up loud and clear - “We want more fonts!” We are working hard to add new fonts with 35 font families added since December. What did users like best about the Google Font Directory? It is easy to use, available, dependable, and it has decent font choices and features... all at a great price - free!
What new features would you like to see added to the Google Font Directory? More fonts! (More in general, international fonts, basic fonts, more weights/variants, & specific fonts)
During our usability sessions, we were able to see many types of users interact with our web fonts. We identified major user groups and documented their typical workflow. The research we conducted took us to the brainstorming table. Our whole team spent an entire day brainstorming goals and priorities based on user research. The brainstorming day was followed by a design sprint in our Seattle office. Four talented Google designers and other team members spent five full days working through hundreds of mocks and design concepts. Stay tuned for the results of this effort!
So what’s next? More user testing, of course! Our engineers and user experience team have been busy working on ideas from the design sprint, and we are ready to get some feedback. If you would like to help us, sign up here!
Sign up to help us make Google Web Fonts even better! http://goo.gl/1hmDN
posted by Dawn Shaikh, Senior User Experience Researcher, Google Web Fonts
Jasper de Waard, born in 1996, first came in contact with the beauty of type design when he was 10, and developed his skills as a type and graphic designer ever since. He was born and raised in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and went to a bilingual high school there, training him to read and write English fluently and have a more international focus. He is currently in his third year, three years before his exam. He hopes to continue his practices in the fields of type and graphic design after he finishes school and release many more typefaces in the future.
His love for the tiny details, balance in proportions and urge for perfection made him into what he is today. However, the great support and feedback from people on several forums can't be denied as a great source of inspiration and evaluation material, giving him a greater understanding of the method behind type design. He is also available for custom type work and identity design.
