Members of the Polkadot blockchain community and anyone else for that matter are being encouraged to make use of what’s said to be the world’s first open-source, on-chain-funded typographic font, Unbounded.
The new font was developed by Polkadot creator Web3 Foundation with funding from the Polkadot Treasury, a DAO that uses a portion of the revenue generated by DOT transaction fees to fund blockchain-based initiatives. The design agencies Koto and NaN also participated in the project.
Web3 Foundation Design Lead Ignasi Albero explained that his team was not satisfied with the existing options available in terms of fonts, and so it set out to create its own from scratch. He said Unbounded is the result of that work, and that it has a uniquely low entry barrier and is being made freely available to anyone who wants to use it.
Unbounded supports more than 400 languages, making it ideal for use by Polkadot’s global, multilingual community. Unlike many other fonts, which are only designed with a few languages in mind, Unbounded’s typeface supports both Cyrillic and Latin scripts and has more than 1,300 individual glyphs available, with hundreds of special symbols and a unique system for building figures. Moreover, it’s available in six display weights, and special attention has been paid to supporting African languages, which have historically suffered from poor support.
The Web3 Foundation said Unbounded is being made available under an “open font” license, meaning anyone can download it and use it for any purpose.
On the official Unbounded website, the Web3 Foundation explains that variable fonts have had a big impact on typography, allowing greater freedom of expression and experimentation for designers and creatives. It allows users to come up with more responsive designs that can be fine-tuned for simpler text animations and transitions, the Foundation said.
The font, which is available to use now, will first be put to use on Polkadot’s official website.
