The designer explained why Apple decided to replace the system font in iOS 9 and OS X 10.11

As you know, Apple has decided to replace the font in smartphones, tablets and computers. Instead of Helvetica Neue font company will introduce a new San Francisco in their operating systems. Currently it is used on Apple Watch on keyboards and MacBook 12-inch with the display Retina.

The reasons for this transition explained the expert in the field of design Venting Zhang. According to him, the font San Francisco «a clear and well distinguishable," he read better than the current Helvetica Neue. The project Type Detail Zhang demonstrated the advantages of this writing.

One aspect of San Francisco expert called "increased by a vertical mark." Lowercase letters represent about 75% of the capital - more than most other fonts. "Eye" in letters, such as "E" or "a" - the distance between the tail and the rest - more than in normal font. These features increase the mark "readability" of the text, even at small point size value.

Recall that Helvetica Neue appeared in the iPhone and iPad with iOS 7 update in 2013, and in OS X - to upgrade OS X Yosemite. Designers were critical of this decision - a new font was easy to read. "It's just a bad interface font - said designer Frank Chimera. - Low contrast, similar form, and so on. Letters difficult to distinguish from each other, especially in the text by typing a size small. "

Users of OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 have the opportunity to install a new font as the system now. Instructions can be found here.