Datalegreya

the typeface that melts text and data visualisation

Datalegreya is a typeface which can interweave data curves with text. It is designed by Figs, on the basis of open source font Alegreya Sans SC Thin by type designer Juan Pablo del Peral.

Datalegreya can be used in all contexts where small space is available to synthetically display graphical data: connected objects, embedded displays, annual reports, weather report, stock prices, etc.

It doesn’t need any specialized software: users just have to install it in the operating system and launch any software able to display OpenType fonts, such as Microsoft Word, Apple TextEdit, Adobe Suite, etc.

Standards compliance makes it equally available on the web or software embedded.

Most connected objects feature a small sized screen, and all of them are about data. By its hybrid design aimed to displaying text and data in compact spaces, Datalegreya brings a realistic and elegant solution to this ever growing market’s specific issues.

Summary

• Demo
• How to install
• How to use it
  • Simplest form
  • Simple graph
  • Neutral characters
  • Start value
  • Min / Max indicators
  • Neutral spaces
  • Non neutral spaces
  • X axis legend
  • Y axis legend
• Webfont
  • @font-face
  • font-feature-settings + font-variant-ligatures
  • text-rendering + font-smoothing
  • Browser support
• License
• Feedback or questions?

Demo

Check out our demo on our website!

The conversion tool inside the /tools folder of this repository is also available here

How to install

1. Download ZIP
2. Unzip datalegreya-master.zip
3. Go to /font-files folder and double-click on OTF files in each subfolder to install it on your computer.
4. Open you favorite design software
5. Activate the following OpenType features:
   • Ligatures
   • Discretionary Ligatures
   • Contextual Alternates
6. Enjoy!

How to use it

To use it, one just have to insert after each letter a special character followed by a number. The font automatically replaces this simple code by the characters that will display the curve corresponding to the selected values. Under the hood, Datalegreya makes use of OpenType advanced features: multiple substitutions grant the possibility to replace several glyphs by one unique character.

Simplest form

Datalegreya can be used like a standard font. Its design is nearly the same than Alegreya Sans SC Thin.

Simple graph

Use the following encoding to display a graph inside a word:

character + | (pipe character) + value

Remember:

• only use lower case characters
• only use integer values between 0 and 3

Neutral characters

To improve legibility of sentences, some characters won’t display the graph:

« » ! ? / ( ),; : *_

Start value

By default, the start value of the graph is 0, but user can start with another value by inserting the § (section) character, followed by a integer between 0 and 3.

Min / Max indicators

The graph can be documented with indicators pointing on the minimum and / or maximum values.

Simply insert after the selected value one of the following code, enclosed into brackets:

[-] --> abbreviated minimum indicator

[--] --> minimum indicator

[+] --> abbreviated maximum indicator

[++] --> maximum indicator

Neutral spaces

Spaces can be inserted in a graphed sentence.

To achieve precise display of the character following the space, a \ (antislash) character must be inserted right after each space.

Remember:

• if you put more than 5 consecutive spaces or neutral characters, the following character won’t remember the value of the previous character.

Non neutral spaces

But spaces can also be part of the graph.

Use them just as normal characters:

space + | (pipe) + value

X axis legend

It is possible to add information about the meaning of the values on the X-axis of the graph.

Put 5 characters (no more, no less) inside { } (accolades).

Placing this code on the beginning and / or at the end of the string determine the position of the legend.

Remember:

• 5 characters are needed inside the accolades. You can eventually use spaces to complete.
• spaces are allowed, as well as lower-case letters, digits, - (minus), / (slash) and ° (degree) characters.
• accented characters are not supported.

Y axis legend

User can also add legend about the Y-axis of the graph. Here is the code to achieve that:

Between [ ] (brackets), put 5 characters (the top value legend) followed by a separator [ (left bracket) or ] (right bracket), then again 5 characters (the bottom value legend).

Remember:

• available characters are lower-case letters, digits, - (minus), / (slash) and ° (degree) characters.
• accented characters are not supported.
• each side of the central bracket must contain 5 characters, no more, no less.

Webfont

@font-face

To use it on the web, simply load the OTF file in your CSS using the @font-face rule:

@font-face {
	font-family: 'Datalegreya-Thin';
	src: url('[path/to/your/fonts/folder]/Datalegreya-Thin.otf');
	font-weight: normal;
	font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
	font-family: 'Datalegreya-Gradient';
	src: url('[path/to/your/fonts/folder]/Datalegreya-Gradient.otf');
	font-weight: normal;
	font-style: normal;
}
@font-face {
	font-family: 'Datalegreya-Dot';
	src: url('[path/to/your/fonts/folder]/Datalegreya-Dot.otf');
	font-weight: normal;
	font-style: normal;
}

font-feature-settings + font-variant-ligatures

To display the font properly, you must enable kern (kerning), liga (ligatures) and calt (contextual alternates) features by adding the following code to your CSS file:

body {
	-webkit-font-feature-settings: "kern" on, "liga" on, "calt" on;
	-moz-font-feature-settings: "kern" on, "liga" on, "calt" on;
	-webkit-font-feature-settings: "kern" on, "liga" on, "calt" on;
	-ms-font-feature-settings: "kern" on, "liga" on, "calt" on;
	font-feature-settings: "kern" on, "liga" on, "calt" on;
	font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures discretionary-ligatures contextual;
}

text-rendering + font-smoothing

To optimize font rendering, you can also use text-rendering and font-smoothing properties as following:

body {
	text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;
	-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
	-moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
}

Browser support

Browser | CSS OTF + font-feature-settings support ---------------------------| ------------------ IE 9 | ✗ No IE 10+ | ~ Partial Edge 12+ | ✓ Yes Firefox 34+ | ✓ Yes Chrome 48+ | ✓ Yes Opera 35+ | ✓ Yes Safari 9.1+ | ✓ Yes iOS Safari 4.3+ | ✓ Yes Opera Mini | ✗ No Opera Mobile 37+ | ✓ Yes Android Browser 52+ | ✓ Yes Blackberry Browser 10+ | ✓ Yes Chrome for Android 53+ | ✓ Yes Firefox for Android 49+ | ✓ Yes IE Mobile | ✗ No

License

This font is licensed under the SIL Open Font License (OFL), Version 1.1

Feedback or questions?

Feel free to contact us at [email protected] HIGHLIGHTS BY 0