Responsive Type and Typography at Scale: Designing a Government Web Platform for All

Much has been written and presented about the opportunities and challenges in bringing fine typography to the web. Still, much of the focus has been on the possibilities in very specific designs and recreations. Jason Pamental’s talk will center around a project that brought truly responsive typography to life on a government platform that works for every agency and puts unprecedented control in the hands of readers to tailor the reading experience to their needs. Pamental will look at the unifying typographic system: how it works across disparate sites to build trust in government, how it leverages variable fonts to adapt to different conditions and user needs, and how it has been implemented to improve performance and user experience. Nearly thirty sites have been launched in the past year, with dozens more coming in 2022—bringing an extraordinary level of design and functionality to the citizens of Rhode Island in the United States.