The story
モリサワのBIZ UD明朝は、教育やビジネス文書作成などに活用できるよう、より多くの方にとって読みやすく使いやすいように設計されたユニバーサルデザインフォントです。格調高い明朝体の伝統を保ちながら、見やすさ、読みやすさを実現した書体です。一般的な明朝体は、横線が細くデザインされているため、視力が弱い方やディスプレイの表示などでは読みにくいことがあります。BIZ UD明朝は従来の明朝体よりも横線が太い明朝体をベースにしており、濁点や半濁点を大きく見やすいデザインに変更しているほか、字面やふところを大きくとりながらも文字のフォルムを崩さないデザインに調整しています。 BIZ UD Mincho is a universal design typeface designed to be easy to read and ideal for education and business documentation. It combines high quality in readability and legibility while carrying on the stately Japanese Mincho type tradition. BIZ UD Mincho bases its design on one of the typefaces from the Morisawa font library, which has thicker horizontal lines than the traditional Mincho type style. Because most Mincho types have thin horizontal strokes, the style can be difficult to read on some displays or signs and for people with low vision. For the universal design version, dakuten (゛) and handakuten (゜) voicing marks are designed to be more legible, and the letterforms are adjusted to maintain their balance while having a larger face and wider counters.
UDMincho includes full-width kana. UDPMincho includes proportional-width kana.
To contribute to the project, visit github.com/googlefonts/morisawa-biz-ud-mincho
Morisawa BIZ Universal Design (UD) Japanese fonts added to Google Fonts and Google Workspace
As part of our larger effort to make great type accessible in more languages, Google Fonts is pleased to announce that the Japanese type foundry Morisawa has made 2 BIZ Universal Design (UD) font families available on Google Fonts, under the SIL Open Font License. These Gothic and Mincho designs, available in regular and bold weights and proportional and full width styles, are now also available in Google Workspace.
“Having these fonts available in Japan allows Google Education to align with the most widely used fonts in education publishing in Japan,” said Stuart Miller, Head of Marketing for Google Education in Asia Pacific (APAC). “This makes it easier for partners to collaborate with Google Education. It also ensures a more consistent, inclusive, delightful experience for the millions of teachers and students that use Google tools.”
Drawing on extensive end-user evaluation, the BIZ UD typefaces were developed using the principles of universal design (UD) to ensure legibility (the ease of differentiating individual characters) and readability (the ease of reading text overall). BIZ UD fonts are especially suited for conveying text accurately—for example, in educational settings, corporate communication environments, and other places that use ICT.
To learn more, read Morisawa BIZ Universal Design (UD) Japanese fonts added to Google Fonts and Google Workspace.