Font change could save government millions, Fox Chapel student finds By Adam Smeltz Staff Reporter, 412-380-5676 Published: Friday, March 28, 2014, 6:18 p.m. Updated 18 hours ago A trim, more svelte typeface on federal documents would slash the governments ink expenses and could save taxpayers more than $100 million a year in printing costs, an OHara-based researcher has found. Not that Suvir Mirchandani would see the savings himself. At 14, he doesnt file a tax return. He couldnt drive himself to a television studio on Friday, either, as CNN interviewed the Fox Chapel Area Senior High School freshman about his just-published revelation in the Journal of Emerging Investigators. The peer-reviewed publication, founded at Harvard University, spotlights the work of middle and high school students. “Really, theres no cost. Its a very easy decision to go to the font menu, change the font and start the savings. I think its worth the shift,” said Mirchandani, who competed on Friday alongside his brother, Rishi, 17, in the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair at Heinz Field. The Government Printing Office in Washington will review the printing suggestion and praised Suvir Mirchandani for “his efforts to identify savings for the American taxpayer,” spokesman Gary Somerset said. Mirchandanis idea dates to 2011, when he competed in the regional science fair as a sixth-grader at Dorseyville Middle School. He found his teachers there relied a lot more on printed handouts than his former teachers at OHara Elementary School did. Although conservation often focuses on saving paper, Mirchandani wondered if the school could save money and ease its environmental impact by cutting back on ink, too. He determined the Fox Chapel district could eliminate about $21,000 of an $89,000 ink budget if workers printed all documents in a 12-point Garamond font — a thinner, more delicate font than some thick, blocky typefaces — a discovery he presented at the 2011 science fair.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 21:05:31 +0000
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