Segoe


Segoe is a typeface, or family of fonts, that is best known for its use by Microsoft. The company uses Segoe in its online and printed marketing materials, including recent logos for a number of products. Additionally, the Segoe UI font sub-family is used by numerous Microsoft applications, and may be installed by applications. It was adopted as Microsoft's default operating system font, and is also used on Outlook.com, Microsoft's web-based email service. On August 23, 2012, Microsoft unveiled its new corporate logo typeset in Segoe, replacing the logo it had used for the previous 25 years.
The Segoe name is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, although the typeface was originally developed by Monotype.

History

Segoe was designed by Steve Matteson during his employment at Agfa Monotype. Licensed to Microsoft for use as a branding typeface replacing Franklin Gothic and its user interface font replacing Tahoma, it was designed to be user-friendly and legible. Matteson created a range of weights and italics with a humanist feel.

Licensing dispute

In 2004, Microsoft registered certain Segoe and Segoe Italic fonts as original font designs with the European Union trademark and design office. The German font foundry Linotype protested, citing Segoe UI's similarity to its licensed Frutiger family of typefaces. In its submission to the EU, Microsoft claimed that Linotype had failed to prove that it had been selling Frutiger and Frutiger Next prior to 2004. The EU rejected these claims, and the EU revoked Microsoft's registration. Microsoft did not appeal the decision. Microsoft still holds United States design patents for various Segoe-based fonts.
During the same period, in late 2004, after six years under the Agfa Corporation, TA Associates acquired the Monotype assets and incorporated the company as Monotype Imaging. Later, Monotype Imaging acquired Linotype. By the end of 2006, the company that had challenged Microsoft's Segoe patents was a subsidiary of the company that had originally licensed Segoe to Microsoft.
Several letters have distinctly different forms in Segoe UI and Frutiger, reflecting Segoe UI's different intended use: low-resolution screen display, rather than airport signage. However, Ulrich Stiehl asserts that many of these differences were introduced in later versions of Segoe UI - earlier versions of Segoe UI were closer to Frutiger.
In June 2005, Scala, an electronic signage company removed Segoe from its InfoChannel product "due to licensing issues". Scala replaced Segoe with Bitstream Vera fonts.
Simon Daniels, a program manager in Microsoft's typography group, stated that "The original Segoe fonts were not created for or by Microsoft. It was an existing Monotype design which we licensed and extensively extended and customized to meet the requirements of different processes, apps and devices."
A Microsoft public relations spokesperson, who asked not to be named, stated:
Segoe was an original design developed by Agfa Monotype in 2000. In 2003, we acquired the original Segoe fonts and used them to develop an extended family of fonts retaining the Segoe name. Many of these new fonts received design patent protection in the United States. Segoe was not derived from Frutiger. Microsoft also has a current up-to-date license that allows us to distribute certain Frutiger fonts in connection with Microsoft products, including Office and Windows. There are distinct differences between Segoe and Frutiger. Additionally, unlike clone typefaces, the Segoe family of fonts are not metrically compatible with Frutiger so cannot be used as replacements.

Under United States copyright law, the abstract letter shapes of functional text fonts cannot be copyrighted; only the computer programming code in a font is given copyright protection. This makes the production and distribution of clone fonts possible.
An early version of Segoe, possibly an evaluation version, was included with certain versions of SuSE Linux, but no longer ships as part of that operating system.

Segoe UI

Segoe UI is a member of the Segoe family used in Microsoft products for user interface text, as well as for some online user assistance material, intended to improve the consistency in how users see all text across all languages. It is distinguishable from its predecessor Tahoma and the OS X user interface font Lucida Grande by its rounder letters. Segoe UI was produced by Monotype Imaging.
Segoe UI was first introduced with Windows Vista. Light, Semibold and Symbol versions of Segoe UI were introduced with Windows 7. A Semilight version of Segoe UI was introduced with Windows 8 in order to make a perfect lightweight down to 11 pixels. Black and Emoji versions of Segoe UI were introduced with Windows 8.1, but only for Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. A Historic version of Segoe UI was introduced with Windows 10. A Variable version of Segoe UI was introduced with Windows 11.
I remember the team creating a special ligature in the Segoe UI font to make "S" and "t" align beautifully for the word "Start".
says Jensen Harris, former Director of User Experience at Microsoft.
In October 2011, Segoe UI underwent a number of changes and stylistic additions that remain present in subsequent versions:
  • True italic variants were introduced for the Light, Semilight, and Semibold weights.
  • The Light and Semibold versions were tuned for better screen legibility.
  • The uppercase letters I and Q and the numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 were altered to closely resemble the Segoe WP font family. Letters I, Q and 1 in particular were made closer to Frutiger, while the rest were closer to Helvetica instead.
  • Support for additional scripts and character sets, such as Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, and Fraser alphabet, was added.
  • OpenType variants were included.

    Characteristics

Segoe UI is optimized for its default ClearType rendering environment, and it is significantly less legible when ClearType is disabled, except at key user interface sizes where Segoe UI has been hinted for bi-level rendering. The standard font size increased to 9 point to accommodate for better layout and readability for all languages.
Version 5.00 of Segoe UI contains complete Unicode 4.1 coverage for Latin, Greek, Cyrillic and Arabic, totaling 2843 glyphs in the regular weight.
Segoe UI uses distinct cursive italic script, whereas Frutiger and Helvetica use oblique type for italics.

Variations