tobias kunisch,
user experience
designer.

I'm making type and typography accessible and available to everyone in my role as co-founder, UX manager and design lead for Google Fonts, (read more about that here).

Recently I returned to Berlin, Germany after spending time working in London, New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Read about other things I've done in the past on my LinkedIn profile.

upcoming:

Figma Config, San Francisco, June 21 - 22 2023


Fonts are Software now, and that's awesome!
There was a time in the early ages of the internet when web designers would embed little flash files into their website for each heading in their layout. They did this to be able to embed and use typefaces other than the few fonts that were considered “web safe”. Since then, a lot has changed on the internet. These days, designers and developers have many choices when selecting type for their projects.

This talk will cover how new technologies like variable fonts are changing type to be more like software—and will open up entirely new possibilities in digital spaces.

recently:

ATypI, Paris, May 11 2023 (remote presentation)

How Google Fonts Designed a Specimen Page for Any Typeface
Given the wide variety of typefaces Google Fonts offers, our new specimen pages needed to be able to showcase the individual characteristics of each font family, while staying universally applicable and scalable. Users needed a clear path to download the fonts or to use them via the service.

Beyond Tellerrand Düsseldorf, Germany, Apr 17 - 18 2023

Typography for everyone
As one of the co-founders of Google Fonts, Tobias believes that open source fonts are an important way in which we can provide access to typography for anyone designing and building things on the internet. Especially in regions of the world that don’t use the latin alphabet.New technologies like variable fonts are changing type to be more like software and will open up entirely new possibilities in digital spaces.

Webby 2023 Nomination for Google Font Knowledge

Google Fonts Knowledge nominated for a Webby 2023

Microsoft Reactor Berlin, Germany, March 30 2023

Fonts are software (and icons too!)
New type technologies like Variable Fonts and Color Fonts are changing this. These new font standards make it possible to think of type and icons as real software that can be manipulated programmatically and during runtime. And they open up whole new ways of typographic expression.

Google IO

Learn how variable font technology can be used for typography and now for icons, with our launch of Material Symbols.

Color fonts

First Batch of Color Fonts Arrives on Google Fonts
Color fonts enable color specification within the font file—and one glyph can have multiple colors. Non-color fonts (i.e., most existing fonts) only specify where color goes. A glyph can only be one color, and if you want your type to be something other than black, you have to manually change it.

Roboto Flex

Roboto...But Make It Flex
Roboto Flex by FontBureau is here! After 5 years of intensive development, its huge range of weights and widths across a complete stack of optical sizes is ready for you to use in all kinds of products and documents.

Material Symbols

Introducing Material Symbols
Say hello to the newest iconography using variable font technology, Material Symbols!Available in 3 styles: Outlined, Rounded and Sharp. Each provides 4 stylistic attributes: Weight, Fill, Optical size, and Grade.

Roboto Serif

Introducing Roboto Serif
Say hello to the newest iconography using variable font technology, Material Symbols!Available in 3 styles: Outlined, Rounded and Sharp. Each provides 4 stylistic attributes: Weight, Fill, Optical size, and Grade.

Google Fonts Knowledge

Announcing Google Fonts Knowledge
A new resource to help designers and developers choose and use type with purpose

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touch: