GAMEFACE : Developing Typefaces for the Xbox 360 and Other Devices

Google Tech Talks
July, 15 2008

ABSTRACT

The Xbox 360 game platform was released with a great deal of fanfare surrounding its new product design and user interface. The developers saw the need for a tight brand consistency with print, packaging, and product interface, and chose to commission a new typeface family for use throughout the brand. Steve presents the path to the Xbox 360's new look from the type designer's perspective: the evolution of the product, the design brief, the creative process, and the unique challenges of developing a font for less than optimal screen displays. Steve also discusses the business and technology of fonts, the work for the Android platform and, most importantly, why type matters in an age of multimedia and text messaging.

Speaker: STEVE MATTESON
STEVE MATTESON is the Director of Type Design for Ascender Corporation and has created fonts for use in various screen display environments and print publishing since 1987. A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, Steve has an extensive background in typography, design and printing which he has applied to his development of high quality typefaces.

His work can be found in user interface designs (such as Windows Vista, Xbox 360 and Google's Android Platform); in publishing (such as Pescadero Pro, Andy and Endurance Pro); and for corporate branding (such as Symantec, Microsoft and Alcon Labs). He resides in Louisville, CO with his wife, 2 kids and 2 Labrador Retrievers.

A partial showing of Steve' Portfolio can be found here: http://ascendercorp.com/portfolio_commercial.html

and here: http://ascendercorp.com/portfolio_custom.html

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[fitoschido]

Very informative! Steve is a master!

[ableite]

I arrived here looking for xbox1 fonts...

[stevebussDK]

Very nice lecture and very nice speaker. Thumbs up to the designer.

[ProgramMax]

The speaker is great - entertaining and informative. If I could I would ask him about the renderer. It seemed very much out of his control. He couldn't give advice or feedback. But he was able to show some of the rendering issues that come up. He clearly knows what he is talking about and I wonder if he has any ideas for rendering solutions.

IE, "iiiii" w/ respect-the-grid can have sloppy kerning. But respect-the-designer and anti-aliasing will appear too light. Is this where hinting comes in?

[Mongtufa]

Yes! I feel so relieved. At 46:25 he talks about georgia for a second - I spent a lot of time choosing a font for my website, and that is the one that I chose.

[rrrchk]

very interesting and entertaining, great talk!

[MRcool2035]

I accidentally ran into this while i was looking for Nyko gameface... it was worth it, interesting video.

[DrHavanger]

interesting