Tiny Maps
I spent a good part of the day preparing a series of test maps in English for a service that’s going to start operating here soon. The maps are a mere 94 × 72 pixels (that’s only 6768 pixels in which you have to help someone get from the nearest station to a particular destination). It’s a mobile phone service, of course, so the map dimensions are somewhat, um… restrained.
The tests are to determine whether an English version of the service is possible. The Japanese maps actually work quite well because kanji have a very high data density (i.e., they generally use a lot of ink in a small space whereas roman letters use considerably less of the former and more of the latter). In Japanese you can write 
while in the roman alphabet you have to write “Shinjuku.”
The people starting this service (whose name I can’t reveal, nor can I show you the maps unfortunately) tried to make roman versions but found it was impossible. No wonder, since they were using a font at the same point size as the Japanese.
Luckily the great Susan Kare comes to the rescue. Her 5-pixel high font Kare Five Dots turned out to be perfect for the job. Hopefully the powers that be will broaden their perspectives to include tinier fonts.
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Posted to General Rants • 2002.09.20 (Fri) • 23:49
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