It was really important for us to have a type system that had
flexibility. We have a lot of different weights
and different widths to serve all the different places that we use it.
We don't just have a bold title and regular text.
We can be much more subtle by going with a medium weight
for the title. For a very large display
you can use the thinner or the lighter weight. It's a step beyond what
we're used to in a lot of the UI type systems where there's just a bold and a regular.
Historically Roboto had a very small counter on top of the R.
It's subtle but it gives it more of a serious character.
As we wanted to make it more friendly. We opened up the 'R' here.
You don't think of characters as having postures, but they kind of do, right?
So in this was our last R, and now we're more relaxed.
We did something similar with the lowercase 'A' as well.
The little loop down there down at the bottom opened up a little bit more.
The curved sides of the 'D' or the 'O'.
Going from square dots to the rounded dots--all those little details together
add up to a different feeling. It became more approachable and more friendly.
We also wanted to add the typographic niceties that we're used to seeing in print.
For the italics, what are the optical illusions that happen when you slant letters
and how do we correct those. You can see things like
the characters that are round are actually slanted a little bit less
All those little things help to compensate.
The result is a typeface that works in a lot more environments.
One of the unique things about designing for
digital environments is that you can update the types.
And we really see Roboto as a living typeface.
As needs change, and as we introduce new form factors.
As we need it to do more things
we can continue to revise it, continue to update it, and really tune it
for what it's purposed for.