Literata

{{short description|Serif typeface}}

{{Infobox typeface

| name = Literata

| image = Literata typeface sample.svg

| style = Serif

| year = 2015

| based_on =

| creator = Veronika Burian and José Scaglione (Latin),
Vera Evstafieva and Kiril Zlatkov (Cyrillic),
Irene Vlachou and Gerry Leonidas (Greek)

| creationdate =

| releasedate = 2015

| commissioned_by = Google

| foundry = TypeTogether

| latest_release_version = {{wikidata|property|reference|edit|P348}}

| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}|df=yes}}

| license = SIL Open Font License (since 2.1)

| characters = 1,100+

| website = {{URL|https://www.type-together.com/literata}}

| cyrillic = yes

| greek = yes

| latin = yes

}}

Literata is a serif typeface commissioned by Google and designed by the independent type foundry TypeTogether. It was released in 2015 and is the default font family in Google Play Books, since version 3.4.5. The typeface was inspired by Scotch Roman and old-style typefaces.{{Cite news|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3046511/how-google-made-an-e-book-font-designed-for-any-screen|title=How Google Designed An E-Book Font For Any Screen|last=Weiner|first=Sophie|date=21 May 2015|publisher=Fast Company}}{{cite web|url=https://github.com/googlefonts/literata/blob/master/Documentation/v2/specimen_material/Process%20and%20development%20of%20Literata.pdf|title=TypeTogether - Process and Development of Literata|publisher=TypeTogether}} It was intended to establish a unique visual identity for the Play Books app, suitable across a wide variety of screen sizes, resolutions, and rendering software.

Literata initially included two different weights (regular and bold) and corresponding upright italicised variations (no real italic). Version 2.1 named Literata Book added two different weights (Medium and SemiBold) and small caps, and made cap-height numerals the default.{{cite web|title=Literata Book|date=13 June 2022 |url=https://github.com/googlefonts/literata/tree/master/Documentation/v2/deliverables/LiterataBook.pdf|publisher=TypeTogether}}

It includes support for full extended Latin, Polytonic Greek, and Cyrillic scripts. Compared to Play Books' former default font Droid Serif, Literata has a lower x-height and higher ascenders.{{Cite news|url=https://9to5google.com/2015/05/18/google-play-books-default-font-replace-droid-serif/|title=Google officially introduces Literata, the new default font for Play Books|author=Tom Maxwell|date=2015-05-18|website=9to5Google}}

On 7 December 2018, Literata was open-sourced under the SIL Open Font License and released on GitHub including the variable font version.{{cite web |title=googlefonts/literata |url=https://github.com/googlefonts/literata | publisher=GitHub | access-date=10 December 2018}}