Algorithm to Design "Green" Font - Uses Less Ink While Remaining Readable

Originally from my twitter post: http://twitter.com/newdaynewidea


The Idea:
Create an algorithm that produces ECOnomical fonts: Fonts that are both easy to read and require little ink. According to estimates, ink accounts for 60% of the cost of a printed page. If we decreased our ink consumption we could save money and help the planet.

Background:

• Printer ink can cost $10,000 per gallon. 
• Century Gothic is apparently the most economical font, although it was never produced to be such.
• The University of Wisconsin - Green Bay (UWGB) recently made the switch to Century Gothic as the universal campus font. According to gizmag.com, UWGB has rolled the change last semester (Spring 2010), saying it uses 30 percent less ink than its default font Arial when printed.

Implementation:

• Computers are exceptional at finding 'best-fit' solutions, oftentimes using evolutionary algorithms to pin solutions against one another in a survival-of-the-fittest battle. 
• Additionally, they can institute variation (mutations) in order to produce even better solutions from which to choose.
• It would require little effort for one to characterize the attributes of the desired font. Some examples are: Each letter does not look too different from its original shape, each new font letter must not be too similar to any other new font letters, must use less ink than currently available fonts, etc.
• Additionally, the algorithm will weight each letter's ink importance by the frequency in which each letter appears. This would mean different fonts for different languages.