Oculus System Software font

[Edwin Bradford]

I've been unable to identify the Oculus System Software font using font identification tools. These screenshots are taken on the Oculus Quest running the latest version of the Oculus System Software. The panels are a small distance away from the user so I had to lean in as close as possible to get the text as large as I could.

I'd like to identify the font so I can compare other fonts for legibility in VR and make an informed choice. For example is some Helvetica derivative just as legible or less legible in the same context.  

[Kevin Thompson]

Sorry, but a type sample has to be much larger and sharper than anything you posted in order to get a decent hit through font-matching software.

However, the two big factors that help with readability on screen are large x-height (the height of the lowercase letters relative to the height of the capital letters) and the openness of the counters (the negative or interior shapes of letters like the o, a, g, etc).

The traditional Helvetica design would not be an improvement over what Oculus is currently using (but Helvetica Neue eText is a slight improvement over Helvetica proper).

[Edwin Bradford]

The What The Font tool was down yesterday but it's back online now and surprisingly it did find some reasonable matches, however I haven't been able to get the exact font yet.

I'm familiar with x-height and counter size thanks but I'm hoping someone more specialised than I can identify either the font or at least the family from which it was derived if it's bespoke.  

[Riccardo Sartori]

A couple of observations to add to Kevin’s spot on remarks: 

• The style of the typeface in the samples could probably be defined as “humanist sans”, the most notable instance of which is Frutiger, followed by Lucida, Myriad, Segoe and Open/Noto Sans.
• Legibility is a function of typography other than type design (thus, for example, the fact that the descenders are consistently clipped in menu headings is bad regardless of the font choice).

[Edwin Bradford]

I imagine the descenders are clipped by error not by choice and it will probably be fixed in a future update. Humanist Sans is very helpful thank you. I'll take a look at the families you mention later today. I know it doesn't match Frutiger because I checked already but it had similarities so may be some derivative I haven't found yet.

[Kevin Thompson]

It appears to be bespoke.

[Edwin Bradford]

Oh well done, I'm impressed  😀. I tried all kinds of searches but obviously didn't know where to look. Those high resolution samples make it much easier for me to compare other faces now so I can learn and understand the differences. What a great forum and thanks so much for all your hard work.