Ink, Paper, Scissors: Experiments in Cutting Campus Printing Costs

Abstract

Universities are always looking for ways to economize, both because of rising costs and because of growing awareness of ecological issues. Printing is a common target. Indiana University’s Pervasive Technology Institute (PTI) compared several typefaces, looking at ink usage, paper usage, and readability. PTI chose to standardize on 11-point Times New Roman for printed documentation such as internal reports and white papers. PowerPoint presentations and other items with relatively small blocks of text are done in Century Gothic. Reports for external audiences will include a mix of fonts with deliberate mindfulness toward ink and paper usage. In short, if a message is rendered ineffective by its presentation, any ink or paper used can be considered wasted.