Saturday, March 12, 2011

font fanatic.

as far as i'm concerned it is impossible to be interested in graphic and web design without some rather pronounced opinions about fonts and their usage. i lack all formal training, which in the world of web and graphics does not coincide with unprofessionalism since many established designers are self-educated, but i claim to be no such thing – just an avid follower.

it must come down to being a bookworm and an aesthete, but i have always given an immense importance to the form the words i ingest come in. obviously the cover design of a book is essential and i have spent several moments considering whether it is plausible to buy the same book wrapped in different covers just because they're all so incredibly beautiful. fyi, my answer so far has been no. moreover, since my early years the usage of serif and sans serif and their myriad forms have become familiar.

being an outsider of a kind – as in not taking active part in the particularities of design myself – i have not acquired many of the common pet peeves graphic designers tend to hold. but my work, which focuses on usability and functional issues, is design-oriented enough to provide me the sort of insider background to find sites like clients from hell and comic sans criminal amusing. needless to say, a throw-up of fonts in a design raises the hair on my body.

regardless of the pukey possibility offered in the project, i was thrilled to find one of my favorite games and one unsurpassed pastime dedicated to the beauty of words upgraded. andrew capener has taken good old scrabble and remade the base product classy in addition to adding a customizability option to it.


his vision is to have it produced and sold via the scrabble website where you could order the font you like best or a preselected assortment of fonts – in case you're not dismayed by the possibility of receiving comic sans in your set.

which font would you prefer?

2 comments:

Sugar Kane said...

I don't have as strong opinions of fonts as you, but I recently did find a font to make me happy: Atelje Carvalho Bernau (www.carvalho–bernau.com) celebrated Jean-Luc Godard by releasing Jean Luc Font - familiar from films such as Pierrot le fou and Masculin Féminin. Now I can finally make me some business cards!

stellagee said...

i may not have such strong opinions, just a keen interest... but what a gem of a website you linked me to, thank you!

(and of course i downloaded the font... caught in action.)