First, if a newspaper uses “off the shelf” fonts what are the restrictions that would prevent them from being used for electronic editions? Are there copyright restrictions or licensing issues? And, if a newspaper has fonts designed specifically to use on newsprint how can the paper use those fonts electronically? Fonts for the newspaper can be embedded with the PDF, or the newspaper can use fonts that are close approximations of the newsprint fonts.Įlectronic editions of newspapers raises many questions. Some newspapers have links on their Web sites to the printed pages in a PDF format exactly as they were printed that day.

The Font Bureau, a Boston-based type foundry, provided typeface information for 12 of those 15 newspapers.Īscender said it could not determine fonts for three newspapers. Fifteen newspapers were either not posted on Newseum’s site, or didn’t have embedded font information. Using the “ Today’s Front Pages” section, Ascender examined 85 newspapers that embed their font information with the PDF file. The study was conducted by examining PDF versions of newspapers that are posted on Newseum’s Web site. According to the study, the 10 most popular typeface families (in order) are: Poynter (36 newspapers), Helvetica (28), Franklin Gothic (27), Times (20), Utopia (12), Nimrod (9), Century Old Style (8), Interstate (8), Bureau Grotesque (7), and Miller (7).

Thirty-five out of the 97 newspapers studied use a custom-designed typeface in addition to fonts that can be purchased “off the shelf.”Īn analysis of the typefaces used by nearly 100 leading newspapers shows that 10 fonts have emerged as industry leaders. 22, also found that many of the typefaces were designed specifically for the newspapers. The study, conducted by Ascender Corporation from Sept. 9, 2004 found that newspapers use only a few typefaces even though there are many more available for newspaper design. Just click “Get Flash Player.”Ī study released on Nov. If you do not have a current Flash plugin, you can get the latest one here.

Guardian newspaper font