Google Fonts Blog

The handwriting fonts that help Australian students learn how to read and write are now available in Google Workspace

Thursday, August 4, 2022

Foundation fonts for Australian schools, 4 styles, 5 fonts

Google for Education Australia and Google Fonts partnered to make Foundation Fonts for Australian Schools available on Google Workspace, including Google Workspace for Education. The fonts are also available for download from the Google Fonts website.

Australian teachers are required to use state-mandated handwriting styles to teach reading and writing to school children from ages four to nine. Designed by Tina and Corey Anderson, the five Foundation Fonts exemplify proper handwriting for English and other languages using the Latin writing system, and include common math symbols. The regular weight of each font imitates the pencil thickness of handwriting, making the fonts easy for students to recognize as they learn how to write letter shapes.

The availability of these fonts on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides is also important for the adoption of Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education in Australian schools.

“Using the state-prescribed fonts in Google Workspace makes it easier for students and teachers to collaborate and create documents and projects using Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education. We are thrilled to improve our platforms to align with Australian education standards," explained Kimberley Hall, Australian Teaching and Learning Lead, Google for Education.

Google for Education Australia received many requests for these fonts to be added to Google’s products and since their release, teachers have expressed their excitement that the fonts are finally available.

“Having the Foundation Fonts available on Google Workspace and Google Fonts is important to Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten, ages 4-5), Stage 1 (Years 1-2, aged 5-7) and Stage 2 (Years 3-4, ages 7-9) teachers. These fonts are required in our English syllabus. To expose students to the correct ways to write, we use these fonts in worksheets, wall displays, posters, and other written materials. I did professional development with an occupational therapist who stated that exposure to Foundation Fonts in the early years is essential for children to recognize letter shapes so they can read and write,” explained Alfina Jackson, a teacher in New South Wales.

The Foundation Fonts are in the OpenType variable font format and are available in weights ranging from 400 to 700.

To use these fonts in Workspace products, select “More” in the Fonts menu and type the name of the font, or “Edu” in the search bar.

Cursor selecting "hello world" text, selecting More in fonts menu, typing Edu in search

Select the “More” menu to find the Foundation Fonts for Australian Schools.

To download the fonts from Google Fonts, visit:

Edu VIC WA NT Beginner for Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory
Edu NSW ACT Foundation for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory
Edu SA Beginner for South Australia
Edu TAS Beginner for Tasmania
Edu QLD Beginner for Queensland

For more information, visit the AU School Handwriting GitHub page.

To see how these fonts are used to teach children to write, visit the New South Wales Department of Education’s Handwriting guide for parents.

Posted by Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist

Partnering to change how the world reads: Expanding Lexend to different weights

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Lexend has 9 styles and is a variable font. Lowercase and uppercase letters i, j, o, and q

Deutsche Version

Google Fonts partnered with CosmosDirekt, a German insurance company, to expand Lexend, a typeface designed by Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup for readers with dyslexia and other reading challenges.

When Philipp Muhlebach, Executive Creative Director of Superunion in Germany, learned about Lexend, he made it the default font in his browser. The new typeface promised to help struggling readers with various spacing options that improved readability. He noticed that Lexend did help him read more quickly and fluently than other fonts. (Reading fluency consists of three components: accuracy, speed, and expression.)

“I was impressed with Lexend’s mission. It improves reading performance by enhancing the legibility of the words with distinctive letters and numbers. It also combats the challenges faced by millions of people with dyslexia,” said Mühlebach.

When CosmosDirekt hired Superunion, for a rebranding project, Mühlebach suggested CosmosDirekt use Lexend to reflect the company’s new modern look. He found that the typeface could aptly work for the various types of text the insurance company used: bold and confident banners and display text, and more subtle and serious content. “As Lexend was available through Google Fonts, we knew that it could generate the best performance across multiple digital devices,” said Mühlebach.

Mobile screen with images of a car and home, prices in Euros for car and home insurance

CosmosDirekt mobile applications for car and home insurance

CosmosDirekt wanted to make it easier for customers with reading difficulties to read and understand their materials. “We loved the font and the story behind it all. Insurance language is hard enough to understand. We’re trying to make it all as simple and accessible as possible,” said Jeromy Lohmann, Head of Marketing and Sales at CosmosDirekt.

However, there was a problem. Lexend was only available as a single weight, Regular 400. CosmosDirekt needed more font weights for its documents, websites, and marketing materials.

CosmosDirekt partnered with Google Fonts to commission Font Bureau and Superunion to expand Lexend from one to nine weights for the insurer to use in its products and for Google Fonts to offer for anyone to use without charge. The new weights (Thin, Extra Light, Light, Medium, SemiBold, Bold, ExtraBold, and Black) were published on Google Fonts in April 2021.

Since January 2022, CosmosDirekt has been using Lexend online in their website, app, forms, and advertising. The company is going to roll out Lexend in all future communication materials. “Overall our customers are extremely impressed with our new rebranding,” said Lohmann.

Desktop page with an man in cap taking a picture with his phone while a dog licks his face

CosmosDirekt desktop homepage page for animal insurance

For CosmosDirekt, increasing the amount of Lexend offerings wasn’t just about the company’s new look, it was also about social responsibility. “We quickly understood the added value we could offer many people who are faced with reading issues. What is better than using design to improve the lives of many?” stated Lohmann.

Shaver-Troup sees the Lexend extension as a business model for solving major problems: “What this exceptional collaboration has done to eradicate reading issues will resonate far into the future. Reading problems are often described as a global crisis. However, we need to think about how reading impacts people on an individual level. Having Lexend available in nine font weights gives many individuals the choices they need to find the right font for them.”

Lexend fonts are available on Google Fonts, in Google Docs and in Google Workspace. Watch this video to see how to add Lexend in Google Docs. To learn more about the creation of Lexend, visit Clean and clear: making reading easier with Lexend.

Posted by Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist

Eine Partnerschaft mit dem Ziel, das Leseerlebnis weltweit zu verändern: Erweiterung von Lexend um verschiedene Schriftstärken

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Lexend hat 9 verschiedene Stile und ist eine variable Schriftart. Hier zu sehen: Die Klein- und Großbuchstaben i, j, o und q.

English version

Google Fonts arbeitet mit CosmosDirekt, einer deutschen Versicherungsgesellschaft zusammen, um Lexend, eine Schriftart, die von Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup für Leser mit Dyslexie und anderen Leseschwächen entwickelt wurde, weiter auszubauen.

Als Philipp Mühlebach, Executive Creative Director bei Superunion in Deutschland, von Lexend erfuhr, legte er sie als standard Schriftart in seinem Browser fest. Die neue Schriftart versprach Nutzern mit eingeschränkten Lesefähigkeiten mithilfe von verschiedenen Abstandsoptionen eine bessere Lesbarkeit. Mühlebach stellte fest, dass Lexend ihm tatsächlich dabei half, schneller und flüssiger zu lesen als mit anderen Schriftarten. Die Leseflüssigkeit setzt sich aus drei Komponenten zusammen: Genauigkeit, Geschwindigkeit und Ausdruck.

„Ich war von dem Anliegen von Lexend beeindruckt. Die Schriftart verbessert die Leseleistung, indem die Lesbarkeit der Wörter durch deutlich zu erkennende Buchstaben und Zahlen erhöht wird. Das Unternehmen kämpft auch gegen die Herausforderungen, denen sich Millionen von Menschen mit Dyslexie stellen müssen“, so Mühlebach.

Als CosmosDirekt Superunion für ein Rebrandingprojekt engagierte, schlug Mühlebach CosmosDirekt vor, Lexend zu nutzen, um das neue moderne Design des Unternehmens widerzuspiegeln. Er stellte fest, dass die Schriftart gut für die verschiedenen Textarten geeignet wäre, die bei der Versicherungsgesellschaft verwendet werden: Banner und Displaytexte, die fett gedruckt sind und Vertrauen ausstrahlen, sowie dezentere und ernstere Inhalte. „Als Lexend über Google Fonts verfügbar war, wussten wir, dass diese Schriftart auf verschiedenen digitalen Geräten die beste Leistung generieren könnte“, sagte Mühlebach.

Display eines Mobilgeräts mit Bildern eines Autos und eines Hauses, Preise in Euro für Auto- und Wohngebäudeversicherungen

Mobile Anwendungen von CosmosDirekt für Auto- und Wohngebäudeversicherungen

CosmosDirekt wollte es Kunden mit Leseschwächen einfacher machen, ihre Informationen zu lesen und zu verstehen. „Uns hat die Schriftart und auch die Geschichte dahinter sehr gut gefallen. Versicherungssprache ist so schon schwer genug verständlich. Wir versuchen daher, alle Informationen so einfach und barrierefrei wie möglich zu gestalten“, sagte Jeromy Lohmann, Head of Marketing and Sales bei CosmosDirekt.

Es gab jedoch ein Problem. Lexend war nur mit einer Schriftstärke, nämlich „Regular 400“, verfügbar. CosmosDirekt brauchte jedoch mehr Schriftstärken für seine Dokumente, Websites und Marketingmaterialien.

CosmosDirekt hat daher zusammen mit Google Fonts die Unternehmen Font Bureau und Superunion damit beauftragt, Lexend von einer auf neun Schriftstärken zu erweitern, sodass die Versicherungsgesellschaft diese in ihren Produkten nutzen und Google Fonts sie für alle Nutzer kostenlos anbieten kann. Die neuen Schriftstärken (Thin, Extra Light, Light, Medium, SemiBold, Bold, ExtraBold und Black) wurden im April 2021 bei Google Fonts veröffentlicht.

Seit Januar 2022 verwendet CosmosDirekt Lexend online auf der Website, in der App, in Formularen und in Werbung für das Unternehmen. Die Versicherungsgesellschaft möchte Lexend zukünftig in all ihren Kommunikationsmaterialien nutzen. „Insgesamt waren unsere Kunden äußerst beeindruckt von unserem neuen Rebranding“, sagte Lohmann.

Seite auf einem Computer mit einem Mann mit einer Mütze, der ein Foto mit seinem Smartphone macht, während ein Hund sein Gesicht ableckt

CosmosDirekt-Startseite auf einem Computer für eine Haustierversicherung

Für CosmosDirekt ging es bei der Erweiterung der Anzahl an Lexend-Angeboten nicht nur um das neue Erscheinungsbild des Unternehmens, sondern auch um soziale Verantwortung. „Wir haben schnell den Mehrwert erkannt, den wir vielen Menschen mit Leseproblemen bieten können. Was ist besser, als mithilfe von Design das Leben vieler Menschen zu verbessern?“, sagte Lohmann.

Shaver-Troup sieht die Lexend-Erweiterung als Geschäftsmodell, das große Probleme löst: „Was diese außergewöhnliche Zusammenarbeit geschaffen hat, um Leseprobleme zu beseitigen, wird noch in Zukunft nachhallen. Leseprobleme werden oft als globale Krise beschrieben. Wir müssen uns jedoch darüber Gedanken machen, wie Lesen sich auf den einzelnen Menschen auswirkt. Dadurch, dass Lexend in neun Schriftstärken verfügbar ist, können Nutzer nun genau die Schrift finden, die zu ihren Bedürfnissen passt.“

Lexend-Schriftarten sind bei Google Fonts, in Google Docs und in Google Workspace verfügbar. In diesem Video erfährst du, wie du Lexend in Google Docs hinzufügst. Weitere Informationen zur Erstellung von Lexend findest du unter Clean and clear: making reading easier with Lexend.

Veröffentlicht von Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist

Emmy award for web fonts: faster online streaming

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

From left to right: Googlers Roderick Sheeter, Garret Rieger, David Kuettel, Tobias Kunisch, Jimmy Mooney, Raph Levien at the Emmy® awards Photo credit: National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS)Perhaps you watch the yearly Emmy® awards to see if your favorite television shows and actors will win. (The Emmy® awards are for television shows in the United States.)
Did you know that software engineers and font teams also win Emmys®?

Google Fonts is part of the The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)’s Web Fonts Working Group that won an Emmy this year for Standardization of Font Technology for Custom Downloadable Fonts and Typography for Web and TV Devices at the Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards. The award ceremony took place at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas on April 25, 2022.

The award was for the Web Open Font Format 2 (WOFF2) that became a standard in 2018. WOFF2 is installed on all major web browsers and powers a vast majority of sites. Google Fonts collaborated on creating both WOFF 2 and its predecessor, WOFF. The team created and maintains the WOFF2 encoder and decoder that convert a font to WOFF2 and from WOFF2 back to a font. The encoder and decoder are used in most browsers.

Two men in tuxedos, one man holding Emmy statue

Two men in tuxedos, one man holding Emmy statue

Google Software Engineers Jyrki Alakuijala and David Kuettel (left to right), Photo credit: NATAS

What are web fonts? How do they impact your online entertainment streaming?

Web fonts enable people to use fonts on demand without requiring installation in their operating systems. They make it easier for your movie or television series to load faster and they take up less Internet bandwidth. WOFF2 fonts are smaller and load faster than previous formats, such as TrueType Font (TTF) and Embedded OpenType File Format (EOT).

Before the invention of web fonts such as WOFF2, some fonts were embedded in images and would slow down the time it took for the pages to load. When text is embedded in images, such as in film or television posters, and not included as alt text or in adjacent text near the poster, it can cause accessibility issues for screen reader users because screen reader programs usually can’t read embedded text in images. With WOFF2, it’s more convenient for website designers to use fonts to display text. As a result, screen reader users can hear the text read to them.

Man holding Emmy statue with National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences backdrop

Man holding Emmy statue with National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences backdrop

Garret Rieger, Google Fonts Software Engineer and Co-chair of the Web Fonts Working Group, Photo credit: NATAS

“Prior to the WOFF, if online media streaming services wanted to use web fonts, they would have to provide the web fonts in several different formats, depending on the browser. Since all major browsers support WOFF2, online streaming services only need the font in the WOFF2 format. Google Chrome was the first browser to support WOFF2,” explained Garret Rieger, Google Fonts Software Engineer and Co-chair of the Web Fonts Working Group.

The Web Fonts Working Group is currently collaborating on a standard for incremental font transfer to speed up font loading. With this technology, clients, such as a streaming company, will load only the portions of the font they actually need.

Posted by Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist

You can now use Radio-Canada’s brand typeface: The award-winning variable font comes to Google Fonts

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Radio Canada character set, 2 variable axes, 317 languages supported

Version française

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 styles (Roman and Italic), in two widths (Regular and Condensed) and five weights (Light to Bold); and as a variable font.

Posted by Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist

Voici Radio-Canada, la police de caractères du diffuseur public canadien, plusieurs fois primée et maintenant disponible sur Google Fonts

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

caractères typographiques de la police Radio-Canada, supportant deux axes variables et 317 langues.

English version

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 styles (Romain et Italique), deux largeurs (Regulier et Condensé), et cinq graisses (Léger à Gras) ainsi qu’en fonte variable.

Publié par Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist

QUOTA_BYTES quota exceeded