Spranq’s Ink-Saving Font

I am always looking for ways to reduce the amount of paper and ink that I use, both to save money and use less natural resources. So of course I was ecstatic when I found out about Spranq, a Dutch company that has come up with a font that is Earth-friendly. I’m typing this post in the eco font to check it out.

Spranq’s font has sprung from the brilliant idea that a typeface could contain a certain amount of holes or small circles in it without distorting the resultant printed image. The designers struck upon this “Swiss cheese” idea after a first unsuccessful attempt to put stripes in the letters to save ink.

The font itself looks similar to Verdana or Helvetica (it is based on Vera Sans) and is best worked in at a size 10. (I’m working in 12 and can see it fine on my screen.) When you print using the eco font, it looks pretty much the same as any other font as long as you don’t have your letters enlarged. The higher you go up in font size, the more you can see the holes, which, depending on the intended use, may not be a bad thing. It works great in italic, no so great in bold. Using the bold setting fills in all the little holes so there’s no longer an eco-effect.

The font is free and can be downloaded from the Spranq eco font website for both Mac and PC.

I do have to admit I am having problems using the font. My computer (Mac OS X, Microsoft Word) will sometimes shift back to Times New Roman (my default font) when I try to edit in the eco font. I can however, type what I need and then select all the text and change it back to the eco font. I’m assuming this is due to an issue with the font, because none of my other fonts do this and Spranq’s disclaimer states unequivocally that they are not be held responsible if the font does not work. Their site also states that the eco font is best for MS Office 2007 (as well as OpenOffice and AppleWorks), and I am running 2003, so that’s probably why the font is being squirrelly. I don’t mind a little extra pointing and clicking to save close to 20% of my ink on documents that I can’t print out on my printer’s economy setting.

Other ways to reduce ink and paper usage:

Use a font that is thinner and requires less ink.

Always use the front and back of paper. I usually put a big “X” across the old side of the page so that there is no confusion. (I have heard that with laser printers it’s not a good idea to use the second side of the page because it damages the printer. Check with your manual if there’s a question.)

See if your printer has an economy setting and use it for drafts and unimportant documents. Sometimes this means you have to program the setting into your drop down menu, but it’s worth it because you will use it more often when it’s easily accessible.

Expand your sense of what paper you can use in your printer. I’ve found that my printer also works fine on the back sides of lined notebook paper and the vinyl-like car service flyers that keep appearing through our mail slot.