Monotype partners with Google

Monotype Imaging Holdings has teamed up with Google to encourage creative experimentation in Web design. A new, free public version of Monotype's Typecast application can now be accessed through Google Fonts, helping users to create better quality Web typography.

Great design starts with exceptional typography, and easy access to type is essential for creative expression, said Chris Roberts, Vice-President & General Manager of Monotype's e-commerce group. Our goal is to make designing with Web fonts more accessible to everyone. So we have partnered with Google to reach out to more designers. Those who currently rely on Google's library of free typefaces to bring more varied typography to the Web will now be able to work with those typefaces more easily and create stunning, readable compositions in a fraction of the time.

The award-winning, premium version of the Typecast application enables typographic experimentation without the need to hand code or use expensive design software. In this new public version, users are able to select any font on the Google Fonts website and then follow the link to the Typecast application. From there, designers can work with that font (and the complete Google Fonts library) on the text of any length and use a wide range of type controls to build clear, readable type systems through adjustments such as font size, weight and line spacing.

Designers can also work with Web fonts side by side to quickly see at a glance what is working and what is not. Users are able to create more realistic compositions with floats, clears, margins, and padding controls, and a number of effects are available such as background colours, borders and text shadows. In this free version of the Typecast application, a user's work can be exported as production-ready HTML and CSS, or PNG files, to share with others or merge with comps.