Have you noticed? We sure hope you have. On Wednesday, the Register’s print edition featured a new font, and we’re happy to talk a bit more about why we made the change.
The font, called FF Milo, was designed by Michael Abbink, now the creative director for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Paul van der Laan, a professor of type design in the Netherlands. It’s also the font used by The Economist, a British weekly newspaper.
Our graphic designer Kristi Kranker and publisher Susan Lynn spent several weeks dissecting dozens of fonts, mocking up pages with different designs and styles. Ultimately, we settled on FF Milo for a few reasons.
First, we think its look matches our mission. The font seems to suggest there’s a story to be told, that the text does more than just relay information. We see that in the elegant “w” and the noble “q.” The Register strives to serve that purpose, too. We can’t compete with national news networks, nor do we want to. Our goal is to connect you to your community and tell its residents’ stories.
Secondly, the font comes in over 17 styles in both serif and sans serif, which allows us to compose all our stories, headlines, cutlines and more within the same font family. That should lead to a more cohesive and cleaner look for our paper.
And finally, we really liked FF Milo because it prints clearly. There’s more ink on the page. We hope that makes the Register easier and more enjoyable to read.
Let us know what you think of the change. And if there are other improvements you’d like to see in our newspaper, we’d love to hear them, too. We are here for and because of you, and we’re eager to make your Register experience better.
