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H
HariKlein
Participant
January 5, 2025
Question

Fonts for faxing: 1980s Adobe Systems study

  • January 5, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 711 views

Hi there! 

 

In another forum I read that there was a study published by Adobe in the 1980s to find the best suitable font for faxing. Unfortunately I can't enter there to inquire any further. Does anyone here know anything more about this study or even where I could find it? 

That'd be sweet! 

 

Thanks in advance, cheers, Hari

      2 replies

      J
      johno24818799
      Participant
      May 30, 2025

      In 1983 I invented a faxable font that was pixel accurate and was used to send purchase orders to vendors with all the information to enter the lot at receiving. It was sent completely electronically using a fax modem. The computer system extracted information from the company MRP system using an emulator catd in a PC then automatically sent the orders while the purchasing agents were at lunch. At that time no one else had a font that was pixel accurate for faxing - not even Adobe.

      sleerfnivek
      sleerfnivek
      Inspiring
      January 10, 2025

      I'm fairly certain what you've run into is a myth, possibly via communication errors over time. 
      Fonts as we know them aren't transmitted in a fax as they are with documents saved as files. Fax machines convert scans One of the first and most popular fonts created with faxing in mind was Lucida Fax... which interestingly is a slab serif rather than a sans serif. But it works because of the shapes and specific application of serifs to enhance legibility.

      Here's some material if you want to delve more deeply into it. Perhaps one of these will lead you to what you're looking for and if you do find it, please let me know. 

      https://lucidafonts.com/blogs/bigelow-holmes-blog/how-and-why-we-designed-lucida

      https://tug.org/store/lucida/lucida-story.html

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucida#Lucida_Fax

       

       

       

       

       



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      H
      HariKleinAuthor
      Participant
      March 26, 2025

      Hi Kevin, thanks so much for answering! 

      This, unfortunately, is not what I asked about. I know how a fax is transmitted and I know about Lucida Fax, but I read that there was a test of some sort initiated by Adobe in the 80s, so before Lucida Fax was released in 92. This study was made to rank typefaces and their legibility after being transmitted via fax. Of course, this was a hot topic at the time. I'm really keen on finding more about this study and how it was conducted. The results that were published seem a bit random. I attached the file that I dug up ...

       

      Thanks anyway and have a good rest of the week 🙂

      sleerfnivek
      sleerfnivek
      Inspiring
      March 27, 2025

      My apologies. 

      I just read my post and apparently I inadvertently deleted a paragraph or two before I saved the post...

      "Fax machines convert scans One of the first and most popular fonts created..." is a nightmarish fused sentence that I never would have written intentionally. Lol

      I don't remember specifically what was in the missing content but there were several links including this one. https://blog.typekit.com/2014/08/20/the-adobe-originals-silver-anniversary-story-a-community-perspective-on-the-originals-program/

      I listed several links to documents from Adobe during that time period about fonts and faxes but they weren't specifically what you were looking for. I do remember seeing several posts that described it as being an urban legend. I spent quite a bit of time researching it because it would be a fascinating find but like you, after spending several hours on it, including time looking through the wayback machine, I decided that it likely wasn't there. 

      I really wish I could have found it. Perhaps when I have some more time I'll dig some more for it but It's been enough time on it that I'm pretty sure that it's just not there.

       

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