“180 EcoDIN” is an eco-friendly font, inspired by SPRANQ’s “ecofont” and based on DIN Mittleschrift. In “ecofont”, Verdana is used as a base font with holes punched through the glyphs. The idea is that by having less black in each letter, less ink toner will be used when a document is printed. However, 180 went one step further. After punching holes through our glyphs, we decided to remove the outlines of each glyph, leaving behind only the dots. This means that even more toner is saved when printing a document that uses “180 EcoDin”.

Each glyph was created by hand. The original DIN outlines were redrawn into each glyph window and dots were placed into the letter shape. The outline was then removed after the dots were completed. 3 different sized ovals were used to create the dots, resulting in a flowing, organic feel to the font.

A “Light” version of the font was also made which is even more economical, having up to 4 dots removed from each glyph. This version is more difficult to read and was made purely as a design exercise, to see how far we could go with deconstructing a dotted font.

Now we’re proud to offer this font 180 EcoDin to ad’ land and 180 Thinking readers. It may not have industrial legibility of 1936 choice of the German Standard Committee, but it saves a little bit of toner on every print and I bet they never considered that!

 
To download a copy, please click here