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Airbus B612 Cockpit Font

(github.com)
181 points Bogdanp | 3 comments | 03 Sep 25 14:02 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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jelder ◴[03 Sep 25 15:07 UTC] No.45116692[source]▶
What it actually looks like: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/B612
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ShakataGaNai ◴[03 Sep 25 15:27 UTC] No.45116918[source]▶
Thank you, that's the one thing I'd expect to be a screenshot in a github repo. Regardless, I don't find it particularly legible. The taller aspect ratio with narrow letter gap actually is not super readable to me?

Maybe It's "more readable" for plane screen fonts than the other alternatives. It's not fair looking at a font on a 49" highdef ultrawide and saying "This isn't as good".

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cratermoon ◴[03 Sep 25 17:25 UTC] No.45118358[source]▶
It's very readable at small sizes. Try 8 point.

Edit: even better, grab a METAR from your favorite airport and drop it in at 8 point

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1. riedel ◴[04 Sep 25 08:43 UTC] No.45125085[source]▶
I wonder if the main effect is that it is readable for people with begining presbyopia (like me). It seems that this is a problem particularly for pilots and it can be compensated heavily by optimizing visual processing [0]. I at least have the feeling that the small font could be perfect for packaging as it seems to be better readable with my age related farsightedness and could relieve my struggles shopping.

[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004269891...

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2. cratermoon ◴[05 Sep 25 01:22 UTC] No.45134137[source]▶
Well I have slightly more advanced than beginning presbyopia and wear reading glasses almost all the time now. My experience with most fonts is why I noted B612's legibility at small sizes.
3. eternityforest ◴[05 Sep 25 06:32 UTC] No.45135565[source]▶
Atkinson Hyperlegible is very specifically designed for visual accessibility, and it's what I use in my automation app, both for accessibility and on the assumption that it's probably also a good general purpose high reliability font.

But another comment pointed out that B612 might be specifically tested in conditions with vibration and fatigue and other factors like that. I wonder how Atkinson compares?