Fonts that you love and hate: Typographical discussion.

[Omnis]

I just learned that my mom's office has a "no food or drink" sign in the waiting room... IN COMIC SANS!

 

[JosX]

I like Myriad Pro, very clean.

I hate Comic Sans & any fonts that are almost impossible to read.

 

[EA11R]

What the hell? Is that uppercase and lowercase numbers?

And, if you look for it, Comic Sans is everywhere in every office with any measure of female near it. Men are lazy, we tend to use default fonts.

 

[Sage]

What the hell? Is that uppercase and lowercase numbers?

That’s how it’s supposed to be done. In body text, lowercase numbers (i.e., text figures) are preferable, while uppercase numbers (i.e., lining figures) are usually only suitable for tables and all-caps text.

 

[Pupik]

That’s how it’s supposed to be done.

I did not know that, although I like Georgia's numbers on occasion:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

 

[Metar]

I find them nice in a header or something, but if I'm looking at a table, then having them not perfectly in line ticks me off. Makes it difficult to read them..

 

[TsukubaTrueno]

I love Birth of a Hero.

And I hate Arial Black.

 

[bergauk]

Oh now that is nice. Do the broken parts and stuff change with each letter typed? i.e. if I were to put seven G's next to eachother, would they all look the same or have differences?

 

[TsukubaTrueno]

They would all look the same, but the font is still bad ass.

 

[exigeracer]

They'd all be the same

 

[bergauk]

Thats not nearly as awesome as I thought then. Still it looks pretty neat.

 

[Metar]

And that's what sucks about supposedly-handwriting, "broken", or intentionally-messy fonts: Put identical letters next to each other, and it's the charm is gone.

I'm very unsure if it's possible with current font-formats, but it would be cool if these fonts had possible variations and random combinations of those, or if someone sat down to allow every handwritten letter to match up with the others: So "lo" would have the l connecting to the o on the upper bit, while "la" would have the connection at the bottom.

 

[TB]

I made a font for work and based on the software I used, I can say that multiple versions of the same letter isn't possible. An "L" is an "L" is an "L".

 

[Metar]

Time for new standards, full of bloat and eye-candy to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of today's youth!

 

[F1GTR]

And that's what sucks about supposedly-handwriting, "broken", or intentionally-messy fonts: Put identical letters next to each other, and it's the charm is gone.

I'm very unsure if it's possible with current font-formats, but it would be cool if these fonts had possible variations and random combinations of those, or if someone sat down to allow every handwritten letter to match up with the others: So "lo" would have the l connecting to the o on the upper bit, while "la" would have the connection at the bottom.

I think ligatures serve a somewhat similar purpose - they change based on context, though not to the extent of your example.

 

[Sage]

Actually, they can. If you’re on a Mac, check out Zapfino – it’s a gorgeous example of using ligatures. It’s definitely not the only example though.

 

[Diego440]

and I always thought Zapfino was crap... well, it is... at least for an ad.

Or rather, for an ad which has to be approved by a square-headed marketing exec.

 

[Metar]

Now that is awesome... And probably doesn't exist for Linux?

 

[Omnis]

Hey, guys, I have to publish a menu for a party tomorrow. I'm thinking Bickham Script as the title (____'s Birthday celebration), and then CENTURY GOTHIC ALLCAPS for each item, with the explanation of said item below in Italicized Book Antiqua. What do all of you think?

edit: They came out great. When the party manager guy at the restaurant saw them he was amazed. He wanted me to teach him how to make them. Here's what one of the tables looked like when we finished setting up.



I can post pics of the menu itself if desired, since this thread is about the typefaces after all. It was a great party.

 

[exigeracer]

 

[TB]

I'm torn. Does that mean I should love or hate Arial?

 

[Diego440]

 

[Diego440]

Typography theory video (about 2 minutes long)

 

[Omnis]

Found an awesome website: http://welovetypography.com/

 

[James2097]

Who doesn't hate comic sans?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Who doesn't hate comic sans?

Primary school staff. They loved Comic Sans and Jokerman back when I was in primary school.

 

[James2097]

Primary school staff. They loved Comic Sans and Jokerman back when I was in primary school.

Exactly, same deal in my schools. Part of the reason why I hate Comic Sans so much isn't that it looks terrible, its that its a standard font on most computers AND looks terrible. Teachers and school newsletters should be banned from using it. I'd say its the most over represented terrible looking font.

 

[Anghammarad]

I've always liked Palatino and Bookman.

Please don't shoot me.

 

[Omnis]

So I discovered Hoefler & Frere-Jones (typography.com) and I'm in love. Gotham is better than Helvetica. Can you believe it?

And I watched a movie called Helvetica and it was about all different typographers and how Helvetica was born, etc. It was funny because all the complete douchebag typographers all had really crappy fonts. H&FJ were two cool dudes though and have the fonts to match.

 

[Blitz187]

I use Verdana at work.... Is that an accepted font?