Secrets of the City

I’d have to respectfully disagree on the subject of best known local creating fonts. That honor probably goes to Process Type Foundry, who’s faces are used all over the place, including Facebook, NBC, and Nokia. They’re giving a lecture at the Walker tonight, in fact, and it will be webcast.

Process Type also helped design Walker Expanded, the typeface that built upon and extended Matthew Carter’s Walker, and updated the Walker’s identity when it re-opened in 2005.

I’m a web designer, so I’m pretty much stuck with Helvetica and some other second-rate stuff.

I like a lot of typefaces.

An elegant serif, like Garamond, pleases my sensibilities any time. But I really enjoy collecting typefaces from the ’20s and ’30s … Art Nouveau and Deco stuff. The first half of the 20th century saw some major technological advances that furthered font design then, too.

At work I have to plow through a lot of documents, often scrolling and scanning. For that type of reading, serifs just give my eye more to look at, which I don’t want, so I change to some sans serif font like Arial. It really makes a difference.

For everything else, I like avec serif.

I think YouWorkForThem beats out anyone local for typeface…and design in general. They are totally awesome, award winning artists who are internationally respected trendsetters in design. Hence this article I wrote about them last year: http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/reporting/straight-talk/2008/10/you-work-them

If I were to ever study anything creative, it would be font design. I used to do little lettering projects and band logos for people in my hometown when I was in high school.

I like simple fonts like Futura. I have a favorite font that was used a lot in the ’50s and ’60s, but I have never known the name of it.

Arial is the evil bastard child of Helvetica and should be destroyed. There’s nothing Arial does that Helvetica doesn’t do better.

A good summary of precisely what’s wrong with Arial is right here.

But enough venom: As far as sans serif typefaces, it’s hard to go wrong with the classics: Helvetica, Gill Sans, Futura. Gill Sans looks great in all caps in the light weight, Futura looks awesome in all caps at the heavy weight.

The Walker’s mostly been using Avenir lately, which is an updated take on Futura, and a great typeface as well. It can be seen in the headers (Connect, Join, etc.) on walkerart.org

It was nice to see Gotham get so much play during the Obama campaign, but now it seems hard to use it without specifically referencing said campaign.

And I can’t not talk about Akzidenz Grotesk, which was Helvetica’s direct antecedent and still—-for my money–the best sans serif typeface. I used it here and here.

Serif-wise, I’ve been using Garamond in Word for my writing because it is, indeed, elegant. Also a pretty big fan of Mrs. Eaves and Hightower, which are both showing up on lots and lots of book covers. Can’t find any right off the top of my head, but the MN collectors exhibition at the MIA uses Mrs. Eaves italic for the headers on their signage.

This is the type (pun!) of thing you’re doomed to always notice once you get into typefaces.

That reminds me…I still have “Helvetica” waiting on my DVR. May have to watch that tonight.

I’m a big fan of Officina Serif. You can use it in so many different ways.

I see Chank’s stuff everywhere, and in some surprising places – like graphics during news and sports telecasts.

@justinph – I’ve heard that big changes are coming with CSS3. Hang in there.

I like Book Antigua. I use it on my resume and get jobs.

I like Courier. Just kidding.

I like Goudy Old Style and Cochin for things you want to make look warm and classic. Verdana, Optima and Gill Sans for sans serif applications.

Lots of good type design out there that I don’t keep up with but admire when I see it.

One font I strongly object to is Bodoni and its variants. I find it stingy and dark and it distracts me from the content of whatever I’m reading.

Whaa?? no love for comic sans???

BTW I think you have to hate Arial and comic sans and love either Helvetica or Copperplate to officially be a digital hipster.

Online, I like Verdana. In print, Georgia.

Everything should be in Shatter, all of the time.

Or Impact, like the LOLCATS.

Arial is the typeface of satan.

Copperplate seems to be the official typeface of brewpubs everywhere.

*yawn* at the Arial hate — so trendy, most people can’t even tell the difference.

I don’t like Arial either, but I don’t feel like fussing around to find a better sans serif. I don’t even like sans serifs and won’t waste my time finding a less-ugly one.

It was designed by Microsoft. ‘nuf said.

I found the font I was thinking of, and hadn’t realized it was related to Helvetica. mcp mentioned a version of it above…my fave was Akzidenz-Grotesk BQ Bold Extended (near the bottom).

*yawn* at the trendy hating of Arial hate. People who can’t tell the difference don’t understand the difference, and ignorance is never an excuse.

It’s the difference between genuine artistry and a crass rip-off, and knowing the difference really is the opposite of hipsterism.

Ditto to Process Type Foundry. My web dude used their Stratum on my site, and it kicks ass.

“People who can’t tell the difference don’t understand the difference, and ignorance is never an excuse.

It’s the difference between genuine artistry and a crass rip-off, and knowing the difference really is the opposite of hipsterism.”

if it’s not hipsterism were are we veering pompousness/elitism?

The Rat switched from Arial to Helvetica after being shamed into it. Now, he feels like switching back.

You know what it’s about? — The Words. It’s not what it looks like, it’s what you say.

They’re both readable.

This is like debating how many angels are dancing on the head of a pin.

Max must have deleted the comments where people said that “what you say” was unimportant.

kurtis: not sure why you need to kick Courier. It’s one of my favorites.

I just know that a lot of fontheads get worked up over courier.