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Segoe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the font family. For the Japanese Go player, seeKensaku Segoe.For the architect and urban planner, seeLadislas Segoe.
Various uses of Segoe byMicrosoft
The Microsoft logo containing a square icon of four individual colored squares in red, green, blue, and yellow, and the word Microsoft in gray
Microsoft's current logo.
The Windows logo containing a blue icon depicting a stylized four-pane window shape, and the word Windows in blue
TheMicrosoft Windowslogo.
The Office logo containing a red icon depicting a stylized box outline and the word Office in black
TheMicrosoft Officelogo.

Segoe(/səˈɡoʊ/sə-GOH[1]) is atypeface,or family offonts,that is best known for its use byMicrosoft.The company uses Segoe in its online and printed marketing materials, including recent logos for a number of products. Additionally, theSegoe UIfont sub-family is used by numerous Microsoft applications, and may be installed by applications (such asMicrosoft OfficeandWindows Live Messenger). It was adopted as Microsoft's default operating system font, and is also used onOutlook.com,Microsoft's web-based email service. On August 23, 2012, Microsoft unveiled its new corporate logo typeset in Segoe, replacing the logo it had used for the previous 25 years.[2]

The Segoe name is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, although the typeface was originally developed byMonotype.

History[edit]

A variation of the Microsoft Windows logo from 2003, using Segoe instead of Franklin Gothic.

Segoe was designed bySteve Mattesonduring his employment atAgfa Monotype.Licensed to Microsoft for use as a branding typeface replacingFranklin Gothicand its user interface font replacingTahoma,it was designed to be user-friendly and legible. Matteson created a range of weights and italics with ahumanistfeel.

Licensing dispute[edit]

In 2004, Microsoft registered certain Segoe and Segoe Italic fonts as original font designs with theEuropean Uniontrademark and design office. The German font foundryLinotypeprotested, citing Segoe UI's similarity to its licensedFrutigerfamily of typefaces. In its submission to the EU, Microsoft claimed that Linotype had failed to prove that it had been sellingFrutigerandFrutiger Nextprior to 2004. The EU rejected these claims, and the EU revoked Microsoft's registration.[3]Microsoft did not appeal the decision. Microsoft still holds United States design patents for various Segoe-based fonts.

During the same period, in late 2004, after six years under the Agfa Corporation,TA Associatesacquired the Monotype assets and incorporated the company asMonotype Imaging.Later,Monotype Imagingacquired Linotype.[4]By the end of 2006, the company that had challenged Microsoft's Segoe patents (Linotype) was a subsidiary of the company that had originally licensed Segoe to Microsoft (Monotype).

The clearest differences (from top to bottom) Segoe UI, Frutiger, and Segoe

Several letters have distinctly different forms in Segoe UI and Frutiger, reflecting Segoe UI's different intended use: low-resolution screen display, rather than airport signage (Frutiger). However, Ulrich Stiehl asserts that many of these differences were introduced in later versions of Segoe UI – earlier versions of Segoe UI were closer to Frutiger.[5][6]

In June 2005,Scala,an electronic signage company (unrelated to the typefaceFF Scala) removed Segoe from its InfoChannel product "due to licensing issues".[7]Scala replaced Segoe withBitstream Verafonts.

Simon Daniels, a program manager in Microsoft's typography group, stated that "The original Segoe fonts were not created for or by Microsoft. It was an existing Monotype design which we licensed and extensively extended and customized to meet the requirements of different processes, apps and devices."[8]

A Microsoft public relations spokesperson, who asked not to be named, stated:

Segoe was an original design developed by Agfa Monotype (now Monotype Imaging) in 2000. In 2003, we acquired the original Segoe fonts and used them to develop an extended family of fonts retaining the Segoe name. Many of these new fonts received design patent protection in the United States. Segoe was not derived from Frutiger. Microsoft also has a current up-to-date license that allows us to distribute certain Frutiger fonts in connection with Microsoft products, including Office and Windows. There are distinct differences between Segoe and Frutiger. Additionally, unlike clone typefaces, the Segoe family of fonts are not metrically compatible with Frutiger so cannot be used as replacements.[9]

Under United States copyright law, the abstract letter shapes of functional text fonts cannot be copyrighted; only the computer programming code in a font is given copyright protection. This makes the production and distribution of clone fonts possible.

An early version of Segoe, possibly an evaluation version, was included with certain versions ofSuSE Linux,but no longer ships as part of that operating system.

Segoe UI[edit]

Segoe UI
CategorySans-serif
ClassificationHumanist
Designer(s)Steve Matteson
FoundryMicrosoft Typography
Date released2003
Sample

Segoe UI( "User Interface" )is a member of the Segoe family used in Microsoft products for user interface text, as well as for some online user assistance material, intended to improve the consistency in how users see all text across all languages. It is distinguishable from its predecessorTahomaand theOS Xuser interface fontLucida Grandeby its rounder letters. Segoe UI was produced by Monotype Imaging.[10]

Segoe UI was first introduced withWindows Vista.Light, Semibold and Symbol versions of Segoe UI were introduced withWindows 7.A Semilight version of Segoe UI was introduced withWindows 8in order to make a perfect lightweight down to 11 pixels. Black and Emoji versions of Segoe UI were introduced withWindows 8.1,but only for Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts.[11]An Historic version of Segoe UI was introduced withWindows 10.A Variable version of Segoe UI was introduced withWindows 11.[12]

I remember the team creating a special ligature in the Segoe UI font (used in Windows) to make "S" and "t" align beautifully for the word "Start".[13]

says Jensen Harris, former Director of User Experience at Microsoft.

The notable differences between the classic (top) and the updated (bottom) revisions of Segoe UI

In October 2011, Segoe UI underwent a number of changes and stylistic additions that remain present in subsequent versions:[14][15][16][17]

  • True italic variants were introduced for the Light, Semilight, and Semibold weights.
  • The Light and Semibold versions were tuned for better screen legibility.
  • The uppercase letters I and Q and the digits 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 were altered to closely resemble the Segoe WP font family with similarities toFrutiger.
  • Support for additional scripts and character sets, such as Arabic, Armenian, Georgian (MkhedruliandKhutsuri), Hebrew, andFraser alphabet(Lisu), was added.[11]
  • OpenType variants were included.
Segoe UI Variable sample

Characteristics[edit]

Segoe UI is optimized for its defaultClearTyperendering environment, and it is significantly less legible when ClearType is disabled, except at key user interface sizes (8, 9 and 10 point) where Segoe UI has beenhintedfor bi-level rendering. The standard font size increased to 9 point to accommodate for better layout and readability for all languages.

Version 5.00 of Segoe UI contains complete Unicode 4.1 coverage for Latin, Greek, Cyrillic and Arabic (Romans only), totaling 2843 glyphs in the regular weight.

Segoe UI uses distinct cursiveitalic script,whereasFrutigerandHelveticauseoblique typefor italics.

Variations[edit]

  • Segoe UI Monois a variation of Segoe UI withmonospacecharacters. It supports Latin (including Eastern European, and Turkish), Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew and Thai characters, and symbols, geometric shapes and drawing elements. The family includes two fonts in two weights, without italics. It is the system kernel font.[18]
  • Segoe UI Symbolis a new font that includes new scripts/symbols such asBrailleandDeseret,and, previously,OghamandRunicglyphs. It is not, however, a "symbol charset-encoded font" (likeMS Symbol), but rather it is a Unicode-encoded font with symbols assigned to respective Unicode code points.[11]Segoe UI Symbol also has some other miscellaneous symbols such aschess pieces,playing card and dice symbols (these glyphs formed the basis of the Segoe Chess and Segoe News Symbols fonts[citation needed]),box-drawing characters,block elements, technical symbols, mathematical operators, arrows, control pictures, andOCR-optimized glyphs.[19]It was later extended to supportGlagolitic,Gothic,Old ItalicandOld Turkic(Orkhon) scripts,[11]all now moved to Segoe UI Historic. It later gained support forMeroiticCursive (now moved to Segoe UI Historic) andCoptic script(found in both fonts).[11]The updated Segoe UI Symbol has also beenbackported.[20]
  • Segoe UI Historicis a new font to support ancient scripts. Glagolitic, Gothic, Meroitic Cursive, Ogham, Old Italic,Old Turkic,and Runic were moved from Segoe UI Symbol to Segoe UI Historic. Additionally supported areBrahmi,Carian,Coptic,Cypriot,Egyptian hieroglyphs(except for phallic ones since v 1.01),Imperial Aramaic,Inscriptional Pahlavi,Inscriptional Parthian,Kharosthi,Lycian,Lydian,Old Persian,South Arabian,Phoenician,Shavian,Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform,Syriac(ʾEsṭrangēlā style), andUgariticscripts.[11]
  • Segoe Bootis a vertically stretched font based on Segoe. Its vertical stretching allows the font to be rendered as the normal version when a4:3image (like theBIOSscreen) is stretched to fill a screen with anaspect ratio of 16:9.
  • Zegoe UIis aZune-specific variation on Segoe.[21]
  • Microsoft later added unofficialcolor support to fonts,first implemented in theSegoe UIEmojifont.[22][23][24]This later has been formally supported with UWP applications natively using DirectWrite/Direct2D for text rendering with color font support, and first-class emoji support including an emoji keyboard.[25]
  • Segoe UI Variableis avariable fontadded that scales better than Segoe UI onhigh-DPImonitors.[26]It has display, text, and small faces designed for specific font sizes. The glyphs have been redrawn moving away from the humanist design in favour of a more geometric look.[27]

Availability[edit]

Other Segoe fonts[edit]

Segoe Script
The article oncatsin English Wikipedia for sample of Segoe Script

Other members of the Segoe family include:

  • Segoe Printis a font family based on the handwriting of Monotype Imaging employee Brian Allen, developed by Carl Crossgrove, James Grieshaber and Karl Leuthold.[28]The family includes 2 fonts in 2 weights, without italics. It supports WGL character sets. It is famously used as a default font for titles inWindows Movie Maker.
  • Segoe Scriptis a font family designed by Carl Crossgrove, based on the handwriting of Brian Allen, but includes extended strokes found in cursive handwriting. It is produced by Monotype Imaging. By using the stylistic alternate OpenType feature, the unlinked letters become accessible. The family includes 2 fonts in 2 weights, without italics. It supports WGL character sets.
  • Segoe Chessis a symbol encoded chess font, designed by Steve Matteson and Jim Ford. It is included with Microsoft Office versions 12 and 14.
  • Segoe Media Centeris a font family built for and privately installed withWindows Media Centerin 2 weights: light and semibold. It resembles the original Segoe, but is not optimized forClearTyperendering.
  • Segoe TVis a font family built intoMSN TVset-top-boxes. It retains characteristics of the original Segoe, such as sans-serif capital I and straight tail in capital Q, whereas other characters have been redrawn such as the i and j.
  • Segoe WPis theWindows Phone 7specific version of Segoe. The Segoe WP family is distributed withMicrosoft Visual Studioversion 10. Currently, only a release candidate beta version is available.[citation needed][dubious–discuss]
  • Segoe Fluent Iconswas added to display images via the font face.[29]

At one time, Microsoft also posted a package calledPrint Ad for Microsoft Dynamics Business Management Solutions Brief Descriptionto the Microsoft downloads center. The package included TrueType and PostScript Type 1 beta versions of the Segoe branding fonts along with PowerPoint templates and marketing material.[30]

Windows Phones also include a more customized version called Segoe WP N which is designed with more clarity and narrow to enhance their take on ClearType.

  • Segoe Prois a custom font used by Microsoft and its affiliates for branding. Segoe Pro contains the same glyphs that Segoe UI does, only that it has specific emojis of Microsoft products attached as well. Segoe Pro comes in Black, Bold, Condensed, Display, Semibold and Semilight, along with their italic versions of each.
  • Segoe Slabis a custom font which can be found if the user extracts the Windows SDK.apk (Android app package).[clarification needed]The font file is named 'SegoeSlabWP-Semilight.ttf'.
  • Segoe Xbox Symbolis a font developed specifically for the Xbox 360. It comes in 2 weights: Regular and Bold. These fonts can be extracted from the Xbox Android app. Other versions of this font include 'Segoe X Symbol' and 'Segoe Xbox MDL2 Assets'.
  • Skype UI Symbolis a font, similar to Segoe Xbox Symbol, however comprises the Latin script from Segoe UI. It comes in 2 weights, Regular and Bold. It can be extracted from the Skype app for Android.
  • Segoe MDL2 Assetsis an iconography font for use onUWPapps.
  • Segoe Fluent Iconsis the newest iconography font for use onUWPapps which will be the successor to the MDL2 Assets.
  • Nirmalais an extension of Segoe that includesIndian script characters.
  • Microsoft YaHeiis an extension of Segoe that includesChinese charactersandJapanese kanji.
  • Malgun Gothicis an extension of Segoe that includesHangul characters.

Selawik[edit]

Selawik
CategorySans-serif
Designer(s)Aaron Bell[31]
FoundryMicrosoft Typography
Date released2015
LicenseSIL Open Font License

Microsoft released Selawik as ametric-compatible[a]Segoe UI replacement, and Symbols as a Segoe UI Symbols and Segoe MDL2 Assets fall-back, underSIL OFL.These fonts are used inWinJSandWinstrap.[32]Selawik is also one of Microsoft's recommended fonts forUWP apps.[33]

Other related fonts[edit]

The same text using Segoe UI and Leelawadee

The Latin glyphs from Segoe and Segoe UI can also be found in the following Microsoft font families:Malgun Gothic(Korean),Microsoft JhengHei(Traditional Chinese),Microsoft YaHei(Simplified Chinese), Gisha (Hebrew), Leelawadee (Thai). They are also found in Ebrima (N'Ko,Tifinagh,Vai), Khmer UI (Khmer), Lao UI (Lao), Microsoft New Tai Lue (Tai Lue), Microsoft PhagsPa (Phags-pa), Microsoft Tai Le (Tai Le).

In these fonts, some of the glyph shapes diverge significantly from Segoe UI and Frutiger and are in some ways more calligraphic. In Gisha and Leelawadee, the capital ‘M’ is narrower and has a raised apex, the lowercase ‘i’ and ‘l’ have tails, and the capital ‘I’ has no serifs. These characteristics are also seen in Segoe UI italic.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^kerning does not match as of May 2024

References[edit]

  1. ^Microsoft (October 7, 2022).Meet Windows 11 | Easier to use.Event occurs at 00:44.RetrievedMay 16,2024– via YouTube.
  2. ^Bass, Dina (August 23, 2012)."Microsoft Debuts New Logo Before Windows 8".Businessweek.Archived fromthe originalon August 27, 2012.
  3. ^"Decision of the Invalidity Division (pdf)"(PDF).Office for the Harmonization in the Internal Market. February 6, 2006. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on May 8, 2006.RetrievedJuly 31,2006.
  4. ^"Monotype Imaging: Monotype Imaging Acquires Linotype".Monotype Imaging. August 2, 2006. Archived fromthe originalon November 15, 2006.RetrievedJanuary 27,2007.
  5. ^Designer Says Vista Font is OriginalArchivedMarch 2, 2007, at theWayback Machine(Brian Livingston, April 25, 2006)
  6. ^Segoe UI 1997–2003 vs. Segoe UI 2005(Comparison on page 3)
  7. ^"Scala and TechMedia are pleased to announce InfoChannel 3 Release 7.4".Techmedia.com.au.RetrievedOctober 17,2009.
  8. ^Harris, Jensen (November 11, 2005)."I Guess No One Cares About Fonts".An Office User Interface Blog.Microsoft– via Blog Archive.
  9. ^Brian Livingston (April 18, 2006)."Is Microsoft's Vista Font Just a Copy?".Datamation.earthweb.com. Archived fromthe originalon July 16, 2006.RetrievedAugust 1,2006.
  10. ^"Monotype Imaging Brings Fonts to Microsoft Office and Windows Vista Products".Ir.monotypeimaging.com. March 20, 2007. Archived fromthe originalon July 14, 2011.RetrievedOctober 17,2009.
  11. ^abcdefPetersen, Palle; Wilcock, John; Dempsey, Paul; Sharkey, Kent; Wenzel, Maira."Script and Font Support in Windows".Globalization documentation.Microsoft.RetrievedAugust 16,2022– viaMicrosoft Learn.
  12. ^"New Fonts in Windows 7 Beta".Microsoft.com.RetrievedOctober 17,2009.
  13. ^@jensenharris (August 29, 2022)."Design matters"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  14. ^"Previewing the New Version of Segoe UI".October 7, 2011. Archived fromthe originalon August 4, 2012.RetrievedOctober 7,2011.
  15. ^"Segoe UI gets a subtle facelift in Windows 8".March 2, 2012.RetrievedMarch 2,2012.
  16. ^"More on Segoe UI in Windows 8".February 17, 2012.RetrievedAugust 19,2012.
  17. ^"Aktualisierte Windows 8-Systemschrift auch in Vista und 7 nutzen".schieb.de.March 26, 2012.RetrievedOctober 5,2012.
  18. ^"Windows 8 build 8014".BetaWiki.RetrievedJuly 25,2021.
  19. ^"21 new typefaces in Windows 7".office-watch.com. May 8, 2009.RetrievedOctober 17,2009.
  20. ^"An update for the Segoe UI symbol font in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2 is available (KB2729094)".Windows Knowledge Base.Microsoft.RetrievedOctober 20,2022.
  21. ^Long Zheng (November 14, 2007).""Zegoe", the new Zune font ".istartedsomething.com.RetrievedOctober 15,2012.
  22. ^"Script and font support in Windows".learn.microsoft.com.Microsoft.RetrievedOctober 20,2022.
  23. ^How to enter and use Emoji on Windows 8.1hanselman.com
  24. ^Herrmann, Ralf (July 3, 2013)."Color Emoji in Windows 8.1—The Future of Color Fonts?".Archivedfrom the original on July 10, 2014.
  25. ^"How to type emoji on your PC using Windows 10 Fall Creators Update".PCWorld.RetrievedDecember 3,2017.
  26. ^"Windows 11 features already in preview: Everything you can try right now".XDA Developers.June 18, 2021.Archivedfrom the original on June 21, 2021.RetrievedJune 21,2021.
  27. ^"Typography in Windows 11".Microsoft. June 25, 2021.
  28. ^"Monotype Imaging OEM Font catalog – Segoe Print".Monotype Imaging.Archived fromthe originalon April 30, 2014.RetrievedOctober 16,2012.
  29. ^Warren, Tom (March 4, 2021)."Microsoft's Windows 10 UI overhaul continues with new system icons".The Verge.RetrievedMarch 6,2021.
  30. ^"Download the full Segoe font collection, official Microsoft branding typeface".IStartedSomething.com.May 31, 2007.RetrievedOctober 17,2009.
  31. ^"New font: Selawik Variations by Microsoft".Axis-Praxis.December 8, 2016.RetrievedSeptember 20,2019.
  32. ^"Microsoft open source fonts".GitHub.RetrievedOctober 20,2016.
  33. ^Hickey, Shawn; Radich, Quinn (June 24, 2021)."Typography in Windows Apps".Build desktop apps for Windows.Microsoft– via Microsoft Learn.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSegoe UI.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Segoe&oldid=1231291157"