Teen finds way to save government $400m with font change

Fonts can make a big difference to costs as well as appearance

A US teenager has discovered a way to save the government $400 million (£240 million, AU$433 million) per year just by changing the default font used for printing.

14-year-old Suvir Mirchandani from Dorseyville Middle School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania contemplated the efficiency of paper handouts as part of his science fair project, resulting in some amazing conclusions, according to CNN.

He compared four popular fonts: Times New Roman, Garamond, Century Gothic and the much used and abused Comic Sans, analysing how much ink each one used.

The slightly thinner form of Garamond used 24 per cent less ink than the standard Times New Roman, resulting in significant savings. This partially explains why Garamond is one of the most popular choices for publishers across the globe.

Less ink, big savings

Suvir found that if just his school switched to Garamond, it would save $21,000 (£12,625, AU$23,750) per year. For the Government Printing Office, with a $1.8 billion (£1 billion, AU$1.9 billion) printing budget, that saving jumps to $400 million (£240 million, AU$433 million).

A spokesperson for the Government Printing Office said that it is seeking to be more environmentally friendly by moving information to the web.

The teenager stated that printer ink is twice as expensive as French perfume by volume, making any improvements to the efficiency in this area extremely valuable.

Via Geek.com