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Typography

AnonusAnonus
edited 2014-06-11 21:11:09 in Design
This is a long overdue thread, so here it is!
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Comments

  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    I swear I've seen this font someplace before...
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    edited 2014-05-05 23:46:49
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    I've never been able to find the real name of that thin sans-serif from the Selmur logo and the signs at Dulles Airport, but Stereo Gothic is a pretty close facsimile.

    Update: The Dulles font isn't the same; it was originally drawn by Eero Saarinen (who designed the main terminal) and looks like a more square version of the Selmur font.
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    Okay, what f<beep>ing font is this? ABC used it in their "STILL THE ONE!" promos in 1977, and I've seen in artwork for vehicles among other things.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    And it was in the logos of the Field Communications stations!

    I'm gonna post it to WhatTheFont...
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    It's a Compugraphic face whose original name seems to have been lost to time, but here is it as the freeware font Watford.
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    Apparently its original name was Zarana, and there were also a ton of redraws by various people in the 1980s and 1990s.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    I saw the name "Zarana", but I wasn't sure if that was the original or not...
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    While I'm thinking about it, the font purists need to shove it. Everyone who made phototypesetters and laser printers back in the 1960s-1980s had knockoff fonts, and as long as the quality was good, who cares? I mean, if you insisted on using genuine Haas Helvetica and Monotype Times New Roman, I'm sure you could find hot-metal matrices for them someplace. :P 

    I wouldn't be so upset if they were concerned about shovelware vendors like SWFTE or Casady & Greene, but they also bash Bitstream, which is a bit like bashing IBM for ripping off both Apple and IMSAI. :P
  • MorvenMorven
    Font purists are basically snobs.
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    edited 2014-05-14 17:50:55
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    I think it says something about me that as much as you're supposed to hate Comic Sans (since it's clearly innately horrible), I just can't. There are too many goofy, outside-the-box uses for it. 

    That said, there are some old display fonts that are gaudy, overdesigned horrors. No one seems to hate on them because they're just too obscure, it seems. (Do I detect font hipsters?)
  • MorvenMorven
    Comic Sans is great for what it is, it's just not really suitable for everything people use it for.  

    Also, it's an outgrowth of Mac vs PC snobbery.  You don't see them yelling at Marker Felt, which is pretty much Apple's version of Comic Sans.

    I also agree with you that a lot of it is simply hipsterism; "it's popular so it sucks".  Notice how a lot of them are turning against Helvetica since it's become too popular again, after being so eclipsed by Arial before.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    but no one bitches about Gotham for being too common outside of design circles

    (admittedly I have been a little out of the loop lately)
  • MorvenMorven
    Ah, but only the in-crowd uses it so it's OK. 

    Though probably the Hoefler / Frere-Jones divorce will turn people off Gotham.  Depending on their view of that whole thing.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    They sent me something alerting me to their latest attempt to win back/hold onto the crowd...
  • MorvenMorven
    hmm
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    yay vintage gauges and meters
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    also, thoughts with regards to type design snatching:

    I think stealing someone else's design and taking credit for it is hacky and tacky. Especially in this day and age, when typefaces are more readily identifiable with their creators...
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    At least the shovelware companies were nice enough to change the names...
  • MorvenMorven
    Ironically the hatred of Arial appears to be partly because it's NOT a copy of Helvetica, except for overall proportions and spacing.  The letterforms are not the same, and there are people out there who pick apart every single difference and claim that Helvetica is automatically better because of them.


  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    edited 2014-05-14 23:43:51
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    Yeah, it's a modified Monotype Grotesque, which is fine because old hot-metal grotesques are awesome. Wikipedia says it was actually developed for an IBM branch in Tucson, AZ, back in the 1980s. 

    It smacks of more Mac vs. PC snobbery, since the Mac always had Real Helvetica (or at least, Adobe's licensed version in the LaserWriter, since you didn't get scalable fonts on the CPU unless you had ATM or waited for System 7).
  • MorvenMorven
    Which pisses me off.  I mean, it's pretty true that Apple sweats the intangibles a little more than Microsoft, always have, but they've produced their share of really stupid ideas too.
  • MetaFourMetaFour
    For once, or maybe twice, I was in my prime.
    For what it's worth, back when I was in high school and had zero exposure to the typography fandom, I recognized that Arial and Helvetica were subtly but fundamentally different, and I greatly preferred Helvetica.

    I was exclusively using Windows PCs, so I didn't even know Helvetica's name at the time. I just knew that I liked the one that didn't come pre-installed in MS Office.

    (By the same token, my least favorite version of Garamond is also the one that comes with MS Office. Maybe I just have a "the grass is greener on the other side" problem.)
  • MorvenMorven
    I've always had a liking for Palatino, but haven't really come up with good reasons as to why.  
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    I first noticed Arial back in 1992, when a local for-sale paper apparently upgraded to Windows 3.1 and started using Arial for everything (previously, I think they'd been using whatever Helvetica-ish font was in their laser printer or DTP software). The Rs are very noticeable and very Grotesque (with a capital G).
  • MetaFourMetaFour
    For once, or maybe twice, I was in my prime.
    I can't tell the difference between Palatino and Book Antiqua.
  • MorvenMorven
    According to this page, there's very little difference, it's an almost exact copy.
  • glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
    graphi

    it's a typo graphy
  • Manly McMachoManly McMacho
    ~*tasteless*~
    大學的年同性戀毛皮

    aaaaa
    fawnts
  • glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
    fawntful
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Tick-Tock
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Wake up in the mornin' feeling like P Diddy
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    But real talk those are pretty cool
  • glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
    wake up in the mornin' feeling like Diddy Kong
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/nicksfonts/centralia-depot-nf/

    :D
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    So, Twitter uses Gotham now.

    Thoughts?
  • CalicaCalica
    Sup bitches, witches, Haters, and trolls.
    it's disorienting to have the font change on you
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    So House Industries, Hoefler & Co., and Commercial Type all released typefaces on the same day (June 3, which it may or may not still be in your time zone).
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Check Commercial's front page

    It confirms my feeling that they couldn't wait to get Druk out there
  • MorvenMorven
    All three of those new typefaces are pleasing ones, more's the point.  

    House's Yorklyn is interesting in that the 'Grand' means thinner lines than the 'Petite'.  It's 'Grand' because it's designed for larger size lettering than the Petite.

  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    image
  • KlinotaxisKlinotaxis
    kill living beings
    this kerning kills fascists
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    http://www.houseind.com/t/4649d4
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Anonus said:

    http://www.houseind.com/t/4649d4

    I giggled
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Central Avenue said:

    Anonus said:

    http://www.houseind.com/t/4649d4

    I giggled
    Me too.

    Honestly, I think type itself is neutral territory, although it can have positive or negative associations for some and in some contexts. This really has nothing to do with what we do or do not consider a "conservative" or "progressive" font style, particularly given how futurism was tied reasonably closely with early fascism...
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    The H&FJ debacle makes me feel guilty about wanting Surveyor
  • Previous CalicaPrevious Calica
    (flower path)
    H&FJ debacle?
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    You know, this.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Hoefler & Co.'s type tester got a lot more restrictive at some point

    You can't look at the character sets anymore
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    oh, wait, they're on their own page now

    derp
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    The Okay Type guy posted this on his Twitter:

    image
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