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Walailak University scholars produced the Thai Eco Front as a means of sustainable printing. They noted that the typeface was created by reducing the amount of space within the letter, saving up to 30% on ink while maintaining the same clarity. Furthermore, it was copyrighted with Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property.

Assistant Professor Dr. Thanongsak Imjai, Lecturer at Walailak University's School of Engineering and Technology, indicated that organizations in Thailand had extensively used TH Sarabun.  These organizations were well-known for consuming large amounts of ink each year. As a result, he and Dr. Chirawat Wattanapanich, along with a team of researchers from Walailak University's School of Engineering and Technology, devised a strategy to create an ink-saving Thai typeface, focusing on the use of as little ink as possible while maintaining text crispness.

The research team collaborated to develop and design an eco-Thai typeface (TH Imjai-Ecofont) by combining the font used in government agencies, TH Sarabun, with the efficiency of toner conservation. The sustainable font was designed to minimize the number of black pixels as much as possible via image processing by lowering the space within each letter element. Besides, it preserved clarity at a maximum font size of 18 pt and Roman characters, without the reader noticing a loss in internal space. The findings have been published in the international journal, Sustainability 2021(Scopus Q1).

"An ink consumption analysis was performed using the commercial software APFill Ink Coverage Meter to examine the amount of ink used to print off on the A4 paper sheets. The comparison between utilizing TH Sarabun and Ecofont versions, scanning at a high resolution of 300dpi, illustrated that paper using the Thai Eco font could use 30% less ink," said Assistant Professor Dr. Thanongsak Imjai.

"The study has now registered a copyright with Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property and generated the Thai Eco font version 1.0 for users to download for free," continued Assistant Professor Dr. Thanongsak.

A free format can be found at the URL below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tHmtVDItz8_FUowe6eycAlQ6v2lkbW-Z/view

Written by Mr. Thiraphong Nooplod and Ms. Ratchadaporn Meekaew.

Translated by Mr. Akkapong Pakjan, School of Liberal arts, Walailak University.