Prototype gadget can scan and identify fonts on demand

Typeface nerds are a different kind of geek, the kind that will exhaust hours researching to find the right font choice to fit a sure design. But what if there was a gadget that could scan any printed text and today identify the name of the font and the genuine shade of color it as it appears?

That’s the understanding behind Spector, a prototype tool for digital font collection developed by Fiona O’Leary for her previous graduation project at the Royal College of Art in London.

Spector: A Tool for Digital Collecting

Fiona O’Leary

Here’s how it works: when you put the Spector on a printed page and click the button, it takes a quick picture of the font under it and scans the image against a database of celebrated fonts.

After a positive identification is made with a typeface, Spector uses a plugin to send the font to any construct program you choose, whether it’s InDesign, Pages, or others.

According to the video demonstration, you can even set the gadget to glum all your digital project fonts to the new construct, and even view information about the font like size, kerning, leading, and where to buy it if it’s a third party construct.

Unfortunately Spector is still very much in loan right now, with no long-term plans to make it remained in the real world.

Designers and font geeks, let us know how much you would pay for a productions like this in the comments below.