New fonts designed for e-reading are all the rage at present, with Amazon launching bespoke slab serif Bookerly and now, surprisingly, Google Play Books springing specially designed Literata as the default typeface on its app.
I’m not mad keen on Bookerly, although it might grow on me, but I am very impressed with Literata, which is a lovely font that looks great on a screen, although I do harbour slight misgivings that it might prove to be a little too ‘busy’ for some people over the course of reading a whole book.
It would be a fantastic typeface for web use (and probably also for print) and I’m hoping it will be released as part of the mammoth choice available under Google Fonts.
The new font was designed by Type Together who had a brief for a new book typeface that would provide an outstanding reading experience on a whole range of devices and high-resolution screens running different rendering technologies.
The new Play Books typeface is also meant to establish a recognisable visual identity for Google’s native eBook App and stylistically distinguish itself from other e-reader competitors.
I think they’ve succeeded superbly on both counts with a typeface that manages to be both eminently readable and aesthetically interesting.
It’s great to see ebook retailers finally paying some serious attention to raising their typography game.
You can read more about how the Literata font was designed and view more examples at Type Together.