2020–2021
Sora Typeface
The Barnbrook-designed typeface, open-sourced on Google Fonts
In 2019, Soramitsu commissioned Jonathan Barnbrook (the designer behind David Bowie's album artwork and one of the most respected typographers working today) to create the Sora typeface. When I joined in early 2020, one of my first projects was getting Sora published as an open-source font on Google Fonts.
Getting It Published
This required sustained negotiation. Barnbrook had designed the typeface for what he understood to be internal corporate use, and was initially resistant to open-sourcing it. After extended correspondence, he acknowledged that we had full rights to the work. I coordinated the technical submission process with Google Fonts, and Sora was published as a free, open-source font available to anyone.
It's since become one of the more widely used fonts on Google Fonts, used across thousands of websites worldwide. A small project, but one that reflects Soramitsu's open-source ethos, the same thinking that led Soramitsu to contribute Hyperledger Iroha to the Linux Foundation.