Background

Bright, high-resolution color screens were key features of Palm's spring, 2002 product line. High-resolution bitmap graphics and fonts were needed for all Palm Solutions Group applications to showcase the quality of the new screens.

The project

I was in charge of the design and production of the several hundred high-res bitmap graphics and 1,400 alphanumeric characters needed for the new handhelds.

Fonts posed a particularly difficult design problem. The three original Palm fonts had not been designed as a font family, limiting their use together. Furthermore, the Palm OS had 17 other fonts that were used only in Web browsing and email applications.

Working with the Dubberly Design Office I went through several rounds of visual exploration before settling on a design system that did a much better job of relating the three standard Palm fonts to each other. The 17 other specialized fonts were also redesigned with an eye to future use across Palm applications.