The History of Inter
Inter is a variable font family carefully crafted & designed for computer screens.
Origins
Designed by Rasmus Andersson, Inter features a tall x-height to aid in readability of mixed-case and lower-case text. Several OpenType features are provided as well, like contextual alternates, which adjusts punctuation depending on the shape of surrounding glyphs, slashed zero, for when you need to distinguish “0” from “O”, tabular numbers, etc.
The Problem with Helvetica
Helvetica was designed for print (specifically, for signage). On low-DPI screens, its tight apertures and uniform stroke widths can blur together.
“I wanted something that felt like Helvetica but was actually readable at 11px.” — Rasmus Andersson
Technical Details
Inter is a variable font with the following axes:
- Weight: 100-900
- Slant: -10 to 0 degrees
It is available under the SIL Open Font License (OFL).