Zed, A sans for the needs of 21st century
12 hours ago
- #Inclusive Design
- #Accessibility
- #Typography
- Zed is a sans-serif typeface designed for the 21st century, addressing the compromise between display and text use with separate optical versions for each.
- It focuses on inclusivity and accessibility, tested with visually impaired readers and marginalized linguistic communities to ensure broad usability.
- The typeface family includes tightly spaced display versions and loosely spaced text versions, eliminating the need to choose between small and large text performance.
- Rooted in scientific research, Zed's design principles use simplified letter skeletons and open counters for optimal readability, outperforming Helvetica in lab tests.
- Zed offers unprecedented design flexibility with axes for weight, width, skew, rounding, and optical size, supporting over 500 defined fonts and cultural adaptations.
- It supports 547 languages, including Indigenous languages and major scripts, with ongoing work to expand support for additional writing systems worldwide.
- The type system includes hundreds of icons for non-verbal communication and incorporates Braille characters, crafted according to international regulations for accessibility.