Ecofont
Ecofont is the name of a TrueType font family, an application program for Windows, and a Dutch business firm. Ecofont Vera Sans (originally called Eco Sans) was developed by SPRANQ in the Netherlands in order to reduce ink consumption when printing. Each character in the font contains tiny holes. SPRANQ claims that this reduces the amount of ink needed by approximately 15 percent when compared to the Vera Sans family on which Ecofont Sans is based. The Ecofont application program (formerly marketed as "Ecofont Professional") inserts small holes in other fonts in order to reduce ink consumption. Both the  software and the Ecofont Sans fonts are distributed and sold by Ecofont BV, based in Utrecht. History. The initial Ecofont Vera Sans was developed for office use to be what the designer calls an eco-friendly alternative for the often used Verdana typeface, which does not have as much features that can reduce the amount of ink used. Ecofont Vera Sans saved 20% more ink when compared to Bitstream Vera Sans in a 2010 test. However, both sans-serif fonts used more ink than most typical serif fonts. In 2011 Ecofont claimed that a reproducible test comparing Arial with Ecofont  Arial showed ink savings of 28%. Awards. The Eco Sans font received the European Environmental Design Award 2010 from DiMAD in Spain. Ecofont received the Accenture Innovation Award 2011 in the category Consumer Products, the Sprout Challenger Award in 2012 and the SMEs Innovation Top 100 in 2013.