View source for Skia (typeface)

{{Short description|Humanist sans-serif typeface}}
{{about|the typeface included in Mac OS|the graphics engine|Skia Graphics Engine|QuickDraw GX, for which Skia was the codename|QuickDraw GX}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox font
| name = Skia
| image = Skiaspecimen3.svg
| imagesize = 259px
| style = [[Sans-serif]]
| creationdate = 1994
| creator = [[Matthew Carter]]
| foundry = [[Apple Computer]]
| variations = Cadmus
}}
'''Skia''' is a [[VOX-ATypI classification#Humanist_2|humanist]] sans-serif [[typeface]] designed by [[Matthew Carter]] for [[Apple Computer]] in 1994.<ref name="Carter"/> ''Skia'' is [[Greek language|Greek]] for "shadow", and the letterforms take inspiration from stone-carved 1st century BC Greek writing. The typeface was the first [[QuickDraw GX]] font, and has been pre-installed in [[Mac operating systems]] since [[System 7 (Macintosh)|System 7.5]] (1994).

Skia includes "GX variations" technology that–if an application offers the UI–allows its weight to be adjusted smoothly between thin and bold, and its width between narrow and extended. (Adobe's "[[multiple master fonts|multiple master]]" technology was similar.) In 2016 it was announced that several technology companies, including [[Google]], [[Microsoft]] and [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe]], were adopting Apple's GX variations as the basis of the variations specification inside [[OpenType]] 1.8, and since that announcement Skia had been used to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology.

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Carter">{{cite web|url=http://designmuseum.org/design/matthew-carter|title=Matthew Carter|website=Design Museum + British Council|access-date=25 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613000612/http://designmuseum.org/design/matthew-carter |archive-date=13 June 2010}}</ref>

}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Skia (typeface)|Skia}}
* [http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/apple/skia/ Skia at myfonts.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125204436/http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/apple/skia/ |date=2005-11-25 }}
* [https://vimeo.com/120047887 TrueType GX Variations — Skia by Matthew Carter] (a video showing the variations axes being adjusted)
{{OS X typefaces}}

[[Category:Humanist sans-serif typefaces]]
[[Category:Incised typefaces]]
[[Category:Apple Inc. typefaces]]
[[Category:Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1994]]
[[Category:Typefaces designed by Matthew Carter]]


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