Diversity Through Font Design: The story behind UD Font development

• Registration Form If you'll join us at the venue in Tokyo, you must get an entry pass. Please fill in your name on the form so that you could get it at the entrance gate on the 2nd-floor.
• How to get to the venue
• Venue: You won't be able to enter the venue after 19:30. Although this meetup page says it is an in-person event, this is a hybrid event that is streamed on Zoom.
• Language: This session will be conducted in Japanese.
• Japanese captions and Auto-translation will also be available

The font designer who developed UD Fonts shares the story of their development.
In 2016, the "UD Digital Textbook Font" font was released in four weights. The following year, "Regular (R)," suitable for body text, and "B (Bold)," suitable for headings, became standard features of the Windows OS.

The UD Fonts have been adopted in many textbooks and teaching materials, including elementary school dictionaries and encyclopedias, and is now occasionally seen on school handouts and flyers around town. Its simple, easy-to-understand shapes have led to its widespread use in Japanese language schools, along with "Easy Japanese" for international students.

Why did we develop this typeface, and why did we choose this design?
So, why did they develop the UD Fonts, and why did they choose this design? Takata-san will explore these questions by interviewing children with various reading challenges, such as low vision and dyslexia, as well as the teachers and supporters who support them.

She'll also explore the implications of illiteracy and neuroscience, helping you understand various reading disabilities and deepen your understanding of how the brain works.

Differences between Mac and Windows and tips for Office products.
Many creative professionals use Macs on a daily basis, but did you know the differences between the OpenType fonts found on Mac and the TrueType fonts found on Windows? Even typefaces with the same design have different specifications and settings. Understanding these differences will help you master both fonts.

We'll also carefully explain the particularly important topic of line spacing in Office products, answering specific questions like, "Why does the line spacing become too large when the font size is increased depending on the typeface? Is there a way to avoid this?"

Accessible, Hybrid, Multilingual Meetup
A11yTokyo Meetup is a unique meetup that features various genres of 'accessibility', conducted in a hybrid format of on-site and online broadcasting, primarily in Japanese and English.

Many foreigners participate in the on-site venue in Tokyo, building networks through socialization sessions. We use the voice recognition technology app 'UD Talk' to provide real-time captions, and its automatic translation feature allows for multi-language subtitle translation.

In past Tokyo venues, many Japanese and foreigners have participated. The post-session networking opportunity is a chance to build a global network! Additionally, people from various countries participate online from both within Japan and abroad.

Time Schedule
19:15 Venue Open
19:30 - 19:45 Introduction
19:45 - 20:30 Workshop, Q&A
20:30 - 21:00 Networking (Only at the venue)

Speaker Profile

Yumi Takata (Morisawa Inc.)
Brand Expert, Universal Design Section, CB Planning Promotion Office, Morisawa Inc.

As a typeface designer at Type Bank, she worked on typefaces in a variety of fields and was the chief designer of "BIZ UD Mincho/Gothic" and "UD Digital Textbook Font." Leveraging her 32 years of experience as a typeface designer, she began proposing new typefaces at Morisawa in 2017. She is currently engaged in a wide range of activities, including distributing educational materials using UD fonts, giving lectures and workshops, writing, and conducting interviews, in order to spread awareness of the importance, role, and effective use of typefaces.

• In 2023, "Miracle Fonts" was published by Jiji Press.
• In 2024, she received the Sato Keisuke Award from the Japan Typography Association in the Individual Category.
• In 2025, she spoke at the Agency for Cultural Affairs symposium "Challenges and Possibilities of Japanese Characters."
• In October 2025, she will publish a children's book, "I want to design what everyone can read: I'm a font designer," through Gakken.

Access to Venue

• Location: Open Collaboration Hub LODGE (LINE Yahoo Co., Ltd., Kioicho Office)
• Registration form for joining us at the venue
• Online participation is planned via a Zoom webinar. URL and other details will be provided in advance.
• Address: 17th Floor, Garden Terrace Kioicho, 1-3 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (directly connected to Nagatacho Station)
• The detail is documented in How to Get to the Venue

Sponsors
Thanks to LINE Yahoo for providing their venue.