Google and Monotype have unveiled their Noto Project. The collaboration is already five years old and is working towards creating a unified font which may be used for writing any language. The project has designed a font which can accommodate more than 800 languages as well as 100 different writing scripts.
The new font is available under Open Font License, enabling it to be used freely and to be modified with different tweaks. The main aim behind the development of the font is to remove the display of unrecognized characters, making the information available regardless of the language it is delivered in.
In a statement, Bob Jung, director of internationalization, Google said that the project is mammoth in its scope and size. The statement said that the while the project aims to create fonts for different devices, it also endeavors to preserve the information delivered in lesser used or dead languages.
Under this project, Monotype was responsible for much of the actual design work. It carried out research and digital designing of the characters, alphabets, and writing systems. Google, on the other hand, managed broader strategy and set out the parameters. It also provided funding for the project. The project involved inputs from hundreds of experts in various fields such as linguists, designing, and cultural expertise.
Noto helps in solving a major issue which is faced by languages not supported by Unicode. Unicode is an international consortium which is responsible for maintaining software internationalization standards. However, there are several languages which are not yet approved by the organization.