LIGHT REFLECTIVITY/TRANSPARENCY STUDIES

AN

INNOVATIVE METHOD TO GRADE INK CONSUMPTION

FOR FONT STYLES

SYNOPSIS

FOR IRIS NATIONAL FAIR 2011

Age Category – 9th to 12th Standard

Subject Category – Environmental Sciences

Guide Participants

Suryanarayanarao.S.R. Meera Manoj

Science Faculty Karan Suresh SISHU GRIHA MONTESSORI AND HIGH SCHOOL

IRIS ENTRY FORM-2011  

PART 1. Synopsis and Screening Report

Title of Project:

LIGHT REFLECTIVITY/TRANSPARENCY STUDIES - AN INNOVATIVE METHOD TO GRADE INK CONSUMPTION FOR FONT STYLES

Category: 9th to 12th Standard

We would like to participate in the IRIS Fair as a team

Names of the Participants: 1. Meera Manoj

2. Karan Suresh

Subject category: Physics/Environmental Science

1.Please provide a synopsis (brief summary) of your project (250 words or less)

Printing is an integral part of any organisational activity. Literature survey confirmed that a font style change would result in a change in the consumption of ink. We find that there is no reference at the Printer desk, grading the fonts in order of their relative consumption of ink. Hence, we devised an innovative method based on reflectivity/transparency of light from a printed specimen to grade a large number of fonts with respect to ink consumption. We conducted reflectivity and transparency tests where light was made to fall on printed specimens. We also wished to investigate how results compare with the information based on the literature survey. Hypothesis First set of experiments is based on the hypothesis that reflection of light from black print can be a relative measure of

ink consumption as black absorbs more light as compared to white background. Second set of experiments is based on the fact that if light is passed through a transparent medium with data printed in black, then the amount of light, which passes through, is inversely proportional to the printed matter. Use of data on grading of fonts can have a significant impact on ink consumption.   Extracts from log book are shown here( Started work in Dec,2010

2. What do you think is innovative or novel about your project? You may highlight the merits of your project, and specific relevance in the Indian context, if any.

Innovativion: It is innovative as no one seems to have assessed and graded the fonts in order of their ink consumption based on the reflectivity/transparency of light to our best knowledge based on our literature survey on the Internet.

Merits: There will be enhanced awareness and if we make the relative consumption pattern available, there will be a conscious drive to reduce ink consumption and thereby reduce adverse impact on the environment as printing is an inevitable operation involving substantial costs in any organization.

3. Where did you get the idea for the project? We were interested in taking up a project on Environmental Protection. Our attention was drawn to ink consumption for printers. We have observed people use any font without any importance to it’s impact on ink consumption. Then we discussed with our Science Teacher Mr.SRS Rao and explore how it can be linked with concept of light reflection/transmission from a black and white print specimen. He advised us do some cursory experiments and try. The experiments conducted excited us and hence we took up the project

4. What is the work done by you so far? Please provide specific results you have obtained till now. Where did you perform your experiments? When did you start your laboratory experiments/data collection?

The work was done at our residence under the guidance of one of our parents at home and school laboratory dark room.

Started: Dec 2010. Logbook has been maintained.

Experiment

Experiment 1 : Based on the principle of absorption of light by black coloured or dark coloured surfaces we conducted experiments to individually measure the intensity of light reflected by 59 fonts used in MS Word. Two clear bulbs 60 watts were used as source of light and Lux meter was used to measure light intensity of reflected light. Standard print specimens on a white paper (9.3 cm x 2.5 cm) for different fonts were fixed on a wooden frame. Light intensity was measured at fixed distances of 15 cm, 20 cm and 25 cm and readings were tabulated and observations were made on the relative consumption of ink for different fonts Experiment 2 : Standard specimens of around 60 fonts were printed on OHP (transparent ) sheets. Each specimen was placed in front of an incandescent bulb (60W) with the surrounding area covered in black . The average of the reading registered in the LUX meter was taken for each font. Precautions 1) After taking 3 readings each of 2 fonts the light source was switched off for a short period of time as over-heating of bulb can cause variations in readings. 2) All positions of Lux meter and stand were marked on a chart paper on which they were placed to ensure accuracy in position of the specimen 3) As mentioned above, text, font size, black paper and white paper size were standardised and all readings were taken at 10x Lux. Observations Reflectivity and transparency measurements from the print specimen are reproduced in the following tables:

Results Achieved Order of ink consumption for a few popular fonts Types of fonts

15 cm distance tests

20 cm distance tests

25 cm distance tests

Transparency tests

Lucida handwriting

2 1 2 1

Tahoma 1 2 1 3 Comic sans

3 3 3 6

Times Roman

5 4 4 -

Verdana 4 5 5 4 Calbri 6 6 6 2 Century Gothic

7 7 7 5

Based on the light reflectivity tests, Low ink consuming fonts are:  1) Lucida Handwriting 2) Tahoma 3) Comic Sans MS while the high ink consumption fonts are Verdana, Calibri and century gothic out of the tests for popular fonts. There is a certain amount of consistency in the results observed for the tests conducted for three different distances between the print specimen and the Lux meter. Only matching data we could find is Times Roman, Verdana and Calibri have similar ink consumption pattern. However these results are not in conformity with the transparency tests We feel that this may due to the print ink not being uniform with respect to optical transparency. It may be worthwhile to use software available like Apfil to calculate actual space covered by ink and it would be more accurate than the indirect measures to study ink consumption. Our study did not yield results which could be

successfully compared with the study data available on the internet. Hence our hypothesis was proved incorrect. However, we learnt a logical and a scientific process of thinking and working which is a value addition in our lives. We would like to focus our work in future on actual print area coverage for different font styles , size etc.

 

5. Please provide details of references (Specific URLs, journals, books, etc.) that you have consulted to see if similar work has been done  elsewhere. a) http://blog.printer.com/2009/04/printing-costs-does-font-choice-make-a-difference/ Printer.com, a printer-comparison site, tested several common fonts and ranked them in the following order, from those that use the least ink to those that use the most: 1. Century Gothic 2. Times New Roman 3. Calibri 4. Verdana 5. Arial 6. MSSans Serif 7. Trebuchet MS 8. Tahoma 9. Franklin Gothic Medium b) http://www.thestate.com/2010/04/18/1248298/at-a-glance-common- c) http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/word-printingfonts/3109/Change-font-to-save-ink The school of 6,500 students spends about $100,000 per year on ink and toner cartridges. Although students and staff can change the default font to something more ink-intensive, Blohowiak said the university expects to save $5,000 to $10,000 per year with the font switch. d)  http://www.labnol.org/internet/fonts-for-saving-printer-ink/12603/   Use a Font with Holes e)http://blog.fonts.com/tag/ Garamond* followed by Courier turned out to be the most economic fonts of them all while Impact and Comic Sans consumed the maximum ink. This is definitely not a "scientific study" but you still get the idea. f) http://www.vletter.com/aboutfonts.htm

What is a font ? g)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink - Health_and_environmental_aspects Environmental impacts Literature survey revealed that though there have been various efforts to measure ink consumption, so far there has been no research done with the transparency or reflectivity of light as a criterion. This inspired us to devising a fairly unique and accurate method of measuring ink consumption

6. What is the contribution from your guide or from the laboratory you have worked at?  

Our guide, Mr. Rao has been a source of inspiration for our project and he has been continuously monitoring and offer guidance as and when required. He has extended equipment and instrument support from the laboratory.

7. For a multi year project, if this is an extension of the earlier work/project, what is the additional work done during the year?

Not an extension of earlier work

8. Restricted items/Regulated research: If your research involves humanobjects,vertebrate animals,potentially hazardous biological agents, hazardouschemicals,radiation,lasers,etc.these may be prohibited or possible under specific guidelines. Does your project deal with any of the above?

No

 

 

 

 

PART 2: Participant Details(Mandatory to fill all fields)

1.Name of the First Participant

MISS: First name: MEERA Last Name: MANOJ

Residential Address:

#27, Thimma reddy Layout,

Kaggadasapura, C.V. Raman Nagar , Bangalore  

City: Bangalore State: Karnataka Pin code : 560093 Telephone STD Code : 080 Phone: 41261384 Mobile:  9980227832

Email ID:  meera.1397@gmail.com Age: 14 yrs.

Name of the school:SISHU GRIHA MONTESSORI & HIGH SCHOOL

Studying in standard: 9 School Phone Number 08025213940

Name of the parent: Dr. MS.GOPIKA K.S Parents signature

2. Name of the Second Participant

Mr: First name: KARAN Last Name: SURESH

Residential Address:

# 10 , Scion Aloe Vera ,

Kodihalli Main Road ,Bangalore

City: Bangalore State: Karnataka Pin code : 560008

Telephone STD Code : 080 Phone: 25273752 Mobile:9611118317

Email ID:  kingkaran.suresh@gmail.com Age: 14 yrs.

Name of the school: SISHU GRIHA MONTESSORI & HIGH SCHOOL

Studying in standard: 9 School Phone Number 08025213940

Name of the parent: Ms. Mekala Suresh Parents signature

Name of Guide:

Mr: First name: SURYANARAYANA Last Name: RAO

Residential Address:

No.932(old),Upstairs,28th Main,9th Block

Jayanagar, Bangalore-69

City: Bangalore State: Karnataka Pin code : 560069

Telephone STD Code : 080 Phone: 26536263 Mobile: 9900171391

Email ID:rao.settigunte@gmail.com Age: 61 yrs

Relationship of guide to the participant: Teacher

For long have you known the participant: 3 years

I certify that the project is done under my guidance

Signature of guide Date: 21-08-2011