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Fontrivia

Postby Fogdude » Nov Sat 04, 2017 5:24 pm

Anybody know why fonts like this came about? (If you're under 45 & think you know, I call BS.)
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby ctaulbee » Nov Sat 04, 2017 6:23 pm

Hint: the name of that font is a clue...
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby topmeasure » Nov Sat 04, 2017 6:40 pm

Is it for a magnetic recognition technology banks use?
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby Sarge » Nov Sat 04, 2017 7:30 pm

The banking industry uses Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Code (MICR Code) technology to ease the processing and clearance of checks and other documents.

The MICR encoding, called the MICR line, is at the bottom of checks and other vouchers and typically includes the document-type indicator, bank code, bank account number, check number, check amount, and a control indicator. The technology allows MICR readers to scan and read the information directly into a data-collection device.

Unlike barcodes and similar technologies, MICR characters can be read easily by humans. Different MICR fonts have been adopted as international standard and widely used in Europe, Brazil and Mexico.

Gee sorry to spoil your party fogdude   :-V
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby Fogdude » Nov Sat 04, 2017 7:35 pm

Sarge wrote:The banking industry uses Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Code (MICR Code) technology to ease the processing and clearance of checks and other documents.

The MICR encoding, called the MICR line, is at the bottom of checks and other vouchers and typically includes the document-type indicator, bank code, bank account number, check number, check amount, and a control indicator. The technology allows MICR readers to scan and read the information directly into a data-collection device.

Unlike barcodes and similar technologies, MICR characters can be read easily by humans. Different MICR fonts have been adopted as international standard and widely used in Europe, Brazil and Mexico.

Gee sorry to spoil your party fogdude   :-V


No party to spoil, Sarge. I was just jogging the memories of some of us old farts. Young folks just think these styles exist because they look 'digital' or 'modern', but they do have an origin, as you so aptly pointed out as you quoted from Wikipedia.
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby chouette » Nov Sat 04, 2017 8:40 pm

Bravo Sarge, and Tamas. I knew they were at the bottom of my cheques, but no idea what it was called or how it came about. Is that font called unkfont? I'm just asking as CT said it was part of the clue, lol
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby topmeasure » Nov Sun 05, 2017 6:21 am

I just remembered from Catch Me If You Can (2002) and the little research I've done after I saw the movie. As to the clue in the name, I am sure CT knows the correct answer.:-)
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby Fogdude » Nov Sun 05, 2017 6:56 am

chouette wrote:Bravo Sarge, and Tamas. I knew they were at the bottom of my cheques, but no idea what it was called or how it came about. Is that font called unkfont? I'm just asking as CT said it was part of the clue, lol


I intentionally used a file name that didn't give away the actual name of the font. Sarge already pretty much laid it out. There's a specific font that's used by the banking industry, but there are now many fonts designed around that original, just because they look 'futuristic'.
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby ctaulbee » Nov Sun 05, 2017 12:39 pm

chouette wrote:I'm just asking as CT said it was part of the clue, lol


If you do a little research you will find the "real" fonts, like the above sample used for actual check printing have MICR in the name.

http://micr-fonts.com/MICRfont/micr-fonts.html

You can even buy them on amazon lol.

https://www.amazon.com/MICR-Font-Suite- ... B06WLQFCZ9

Now to actually print a check you have to have "special magnetic ink" in addition to the font, the thing that makes the bank check special and scan-able is the ink more than the font.

If the font was used alone it will fail the bank scanner for lack of magnetic properties.

;)


In addition on the subject of related special fonts.

There are other fonts that have a similar reason to exist like OCR-A which is the font you see on bar-codes, it stands for Optical Character Recognition which was intended to make the characters more recognizable by "Optical Scanners" yet remain readable by humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCR-A


:)
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby Fogdude » Nov Sun 05, 2017 2:54 pm

The main reason I brought this up was because most banks stopped using actual magnetic ink quite some time ago. The font was designed to be read both by magnetic readers as well as optical ones, and by humans, so they're supposed to work, regardless. Most stores that accept checks no longer use magnetic readers at all. The error rate is higher, though, so it's not uncommon for checks to fail in the readers. This almost never happened when magnetic ink was used.
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby stampe » Nov Sun 05, 2017 8:54 pm

I had no idea, but i never used a check in my life and im not 45 yet either :P
Thanks for the Info :)
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby chouette » Nov Wed 08, 2017 12:53 am

stampe wrote:I had no idea, but i never used a check in my life and im not 45 yet either :P
Thanks for the Info :)


And you probably will never use one for the rest of your life either, lol - I can't remember the last time I used one. Actually, if I ever find a check book here in the house, it would probably smell very, very old, lol
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby topmeasure » Nov Wed 08, 2017 1:35 am

chouette wrote:
stampe wrote:I had no idea, but i never used a check in my life and im not 45 yet either :P
Thanks for the Info :)


And you probably will never use one for the rest of your life either, lol - I can't remember the last time I used one. Actually, if I ever find a check book here in the house, it would probably smell very, very old, lol


The banking system in the Switzerland is a bit different from what we have in the US and Canada. I don't think they ever used a check system like we do. :)
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby chouette » Nov Wed 08, 2017 4:04 am

Oh, I see. Interesting. :)
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Re: Fontrivia

Postby Loudoom » Nov Wed 08, 2017 7:01 am

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