Fonts and type have always interested me. They are in a realm where nerdiness meets artistry. It can be so easy to presume no one should care about the difference between Helvetica and Arial, or maybe even Times Roman. What difference does it make if the text is legible? Yet people will throw themselves on swords over the finer points of fonts.
It's probably no coincidence that in 2008, John McCain's campaign font was Optima, the same fonts used in the Vietnam Veteran's memorial. Obama's font was Gotham, a font designed for GQ magazine. I think that hints at the power of smart design. Mostly it out of the way, only presenting you with what the designer intended. Sometimes it sneaks in a subtle message. Something you are not aware is there, but that affects you none the less.
So much of this comes down to taste... a taste that I do not have, or cannot express. I can say that a font is lighter or darker, or easy to read, or more curvey, but I couldn't tell you what an elegant font was, or minimalist, or original, or arresting, or harmonized. Yet font designers can talk this way for hours.
And why are so many people with poor taste drawn to Papyrus and Comic Sans?
"When you break the rules, break them elegantly, definitively and well. Everything else is bad taste"
"When the going get's easy, it means you're getting lazy."
So much of this comes down to taste... a taste that I do not have, or cannot express. I can say that a font is lighter or darker, or easy to read, or more curvey, but I couldn't tell you what an elegant font was, or minimalist, or original, or arresting, or harmonized. Yet font designers can talk this way for hours.
And why are so many people with poor taste drawn to Papyrus and Comic Sans?
"When you break the rules, break them elegantly, definitively and well. Everything else is bad taste"
"When the going get's easy, it means you're getting lazy."
No comments:
Post a Comment