Do typefaces really matter?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10689931
To most people, typefaces are pretty insignificant. Yet to their devotees, they are the most important feature of text, giving subliminal messages that can either entice or revolt readers, says Tom de Castella.
In today's Magazine
Do typefaces really matter?
Are chocolate prices rising for Christmas?
Testing the new cycle lane 'highways'
From rock failure to politician
When Avatar, the biggest grossing movie of all time was released, one section of the audience was immediately outraged.
Graphic designers hated it. Why? They didn't like the font that director James Cameron had chosen for the subtitles.
"I hated it on the posters and then threw up a little in my mouth when I realised I would have to read that ugly font throughout the film in the subtitles," one blogger commented.
"After the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on CG effects, did he just run out of money for a decent graphic designer?"
And yet fonts are not just for geeks. Otherwise why would organisations around the world spend so much time and money changing their typeface?
A new look
In the past week the BBC website has taken on a new look, replacing Verdana font with Arial (on PCs) and Helvetica (on Macs). In April, the Mail on Sunday reported that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office spent £80,000 changing its typeface to one that was almost identical.
And last month Gatwick Airport unveiled a new logo, replacing a rather austere style with a custom-made, handwritten script. A spokeswoman said the change was an attempt to emphasise the airport's "personal touch". But can different shaped letterforms really convey those values?
The old Gatwick logo, in Frutiger, was said to be 'uncomprimising'...
...but under new ownership it embraced a more 'personal' style.
The power of the font goes back to the Greeks, says Julie Strawson, director of Monotype, an international type design company. "The Greeks created handwriting and that's one of the most personal ways of communicating."
A typeface may never quite be able to replicate the intimacy of pen and ink but with an estimated 200,000 fonts to choose from today, there are no shortage of different styles to choose from.
Selecting a font is like getting dressed, Strawson says. Just as one chooses an outfit according to the occasion, one decides on a font according to the kind of message you are seeking to convey.
One of the crucial dilemmas is whether to opt for serif or sans serif. In a serif typeface the letters have extra curls and bobbles, reminiscent of calligraphy, whereas in sans serif (literally without serif) the letterforms have clean lines without any protruding bits.
"Some people find serif best because, like handwriting, it helps the eye to link the letters," Strawson says. "With sans each character is completely separate, there's more white space which is why some find it more readable."
The typeface matters because of its power to create a sense of recognition and trust, she argues: "Everyone recognises the BBC just from three characters in Gill Sans. It's an icon. If you wrote BBC in a flowery font people wouldn't recognize it."
Banks are particularly aware of this, with companies like Barclays creating their own branded font to reinforce a sense of security at a time when fears of fraud and scamming is high.
But Jonathan Barnbrook, founder of the website Virus Fonts, believes the power of typography goes beyond such utilitarian aims.
"A good typeface creates an emotional response in relation to the message it is conveying. You're trying to get that tone of voice right - you can shout or whisper. And you want to sum up the spirit of the age, because they do date quite quickly."
How can she smile against that backdrop of Papyrus?
People have become more aware about the impact of fonts because of computers but the power of a typeface is still largely subliminal, he argues. Barnbrook is best known for producing provocatively named, subversive fonts such as Exocet, Bastard, Prozac and Nixon. He also designed the cover of Heathen, David Bowie 2002 album.
"I talked a lot with Bowie - the discussions went back and forth. He's the creator and you're trying to get the atmosphere of the music across in the design. I chose one of our own fonts - Priori - which is formal but playful, as the album was quite dark."
Indeed there's no limit to the emotional range a typeface can reflect. "Typography is so closely associated with language so you can express irony and get the whole complexity of emotion in there."
It's part of a typeface designer's essential make-up to get hung up on tiny details. And sometimes that can be downright annoying, he admits: "The problem is you're watching a film and you notice a sign. You realize that the letterforms are 20 years later than the era the film is supposed to be set in."
Indeed for some, fonts take on almost life and death significance. The Swiss font Helvetica has a cult following celebrated by the 2007 documentary of the same name.
Helvetica = cheap
But for Bruno Maag, managing creative director of typeface studio Dalton Maag, Helvetica is a cultural blight.
"If you think of icecream, it (Helvetica) is a cheap, nasty, supermarket brand made of water, substitutes and vegetable fats. The texture is wrong and it leaves a little bit of a funny aftertaste."
Rather than being the modernist font supporters say it is, he argues that Helvetica is based on "antique" designs and made up of badly executed letterforms, although he admits these are "tiny details" most people will never spot.
"Lower case Ss are notoriously difficult to get right. But in Helvetica it's not straight - you want to go in there and tighten it up. And the 'a' looks so woolly and ill conceived, it really winds me up."
Continue reading the main story
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Start Quote
When you're reading an article you're not thinking about the font”
Mike Battista
Canadian blogger
As much as he hates Helvetica, he loves Univers, another Swiss invented design. "It's the true modernist typeface. There's no fuss and schmuss about it, it's a clean, tight design. If Helvetica is Julia Roberts - pretty enough - then Univers is Uma Thurman - really cool."
But the Canadian blogger Mike Battista, who blogs at phronk.com, has had enough of the font police. He was first alerted to the problem when the graphic design community reacted angrily to the use of Papyrus for the subtitles in Avatar.
"I follow a lot of the graphic design community on Twitter and there were so many people querying Papyrus. They jumped on it because they think it's too flashy and gimmicky. But subtitle fonts don't matter as long as you can read them."
Battista concludes that the font has been elevated to an absurdly high cultural status by a small, self-indulgent elite.
"These people remind me of wine snobs - they can detect all these subtle notes and flavours but the average person probably won't notice all these tiny flourishes on a font. When you're reading an article you're not thinking about the font. You have to be looking at fonts all day before you start getting emotional about them."
An obsession with typefaces may even be reducing our productivity, he warns.
"The other day I heard that people are getting 'font paralysis'. They couldn't move forward with their work because they were unable to decide on which font to use."
ultrasound jesus
http://churchads.net/2010/index.html
Research has revealed that 85 per cent of people agree with the statement that "Christmas should be called Christmas because we are still a Christian country". But it also shows that only 12 per cent of adults know the facts of the Christmas story in any detail.
So if we Christians really want to keep Christmas focused on Christ, we must constantly re-tell the story of his birth in ways which engage positively with the public's interest.
In the 21st century, proud parents-to-be proudly announce the coming birth by showing friends and family the scan of the baby. Our new Ultrasound Jesus poster (pictured left) uses this convention to place the birth of Christ in an ultra-contemporary context.
It is highly impactful. It has a sense of immediacy. It creates anticipation. And theologically it speaks of both the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ.
There is no doubt that it will capture people's attention, generate headlines and create countless conversations about the true meaning of Christmas.
Church leaders across the denominations have welcomed the campaign and are urging churches all over the country to get involved.
Alejandro
The highly anticipated 'Alejandro' video has arrived fresh from the Haus of Gaga. I have to say, I am somewhat dissapointed. High expectations were had after previous videos including 'Telephone' and 'Paparazzi', directed by Jonas Akerlund. This video featured the expected dance routines, but nothing cutting edge, and the costumes too did not break boundaries as expected. The video was also tarnished by cheap graphics in places compared to the usual well choreographed scenes. In 'Telephone', one of the strengths was the strong colour scheme that was translated into the on-screen type. There was no on-screen type in 'Alejandro' at all.
The video did seem to drag on towards the end. Long videos can be good, but I felt in this case a rather simple song had been dragged on in an attempt to bring this video up to the standard of previous videos, which have resembled mini-films. There was also no speech in the video, which in turn didn't let it become the mini-film it could have been. It was good to see no product placement in the video, but if product placement means more money in the video and thus higher quality videos, I would welcome its return.
Perhaps we have come to expect too much of Lady Gaga, but the creativity, ambition and money is there to create high quality avant garde videos, so let's get back on track next time Gaga!
History Pin
Using Google Street View, 'We Are What We Do' aims to build a virtual database of the world through the generations. By pinning photos onto the streets in street view, users will be able to see what the street looked liked at various points throughout history. The content will be user generated and is primarily in the UK only, but will be rolled out globally very soon.
languages
Something I really want to do in my second year is use my interest in languages much more. It is a little known fact that I have a drive to learn languages, and am advanced in Spanish, studied French for ten years and am currently learning German. Languages are hard to learn, and usually learnt in boring ways that suit only a small portion of academics.
The language learning experience must be revolutionised. It must be made open to creative people, and made more friendly for acamdeic people. I therefore have many ideas in how this could be developed, which I'm excited to take forward next year.
I think it is vital that people have a grasp of foreign languages in a globally connected world, and it is important for the sake of our cultural understanding too. As a visual communicator, I have a drive to make the world a better place. Cultural ignorance blights the UK, with xenephobic behaviour all too common. A project to reduce this through language learning seems an ideal thing to do in my view.
To introduce this idea, I have found a nifty widget for online translations. Bad Translator demonstrates the inaccuracy of online translators. Have a go yourself, and see how different your result is from the original text:
http://www.conveythis.com/translation.php
leeds by night
An interactive photo guide to Leeds at night. http://www.stephengriffin.co.uk/leedsbynight/
This project has been undertaken by Stephen Griffin to document people's interaction with the city at night.
Where Does My Money Go?
Information Graphics have long been one of my interests. Statistics don't have to be displayed in boring ways. There are beautiful examples of maps, charts and graphs available. 'Where Does My Money Go' works as an application to display how the budget is spent. I don't think the website is amazing, but it has its merits and certainly gives inspiration for other designers to improve upon it.
http://www.wheredoesmymoneygo.org/dashboard/#/regional-drilldown/spending=per_capita&focus=04&year=2010-11
Broadcasting Place
Broadcasting Place has won an award at the 2010 RIBA architecture awards; a building built last year designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley architects.
a decent church, finally
I'm happy to see that at least in one place in the world, churches are looking to more edgy designs for their buildings. All to often, churches stick to their old buildings- and when they build new ones, they can hardly be described as cutting edge. To me, the aesthetic and design that churches adopt is one of the major reasons many churches are failing. There are some exceptions however. OFIS Arhitheki shows us it's new church in Krasnja, Slovenia:
New London 2012 Mascots Unveiled
At first, I wasn't sure if I liked Wenlock & Mandeville. In one sense, they have the charm and the friendliness expected of a mascot- and it has been executed in a dynamic way; something London 2012 has seeked to do since it unveiled its cutting edge logo.
On the other hand, is this idea simply 'cheesy'? I'm not sure how well it works, and there's a risk element involved as I fear it could become somewhat of a laughing stock among the global community. Only time will tell.
However, having said this I have concluded that I like them. I like them because they push boundaries; they're relatable, new, dynamic and innovative. I think they'll get a lot of criticism, but they'll be remembered.
The Olympics are often not the festival of unity and diverse culture they're supposed to be. Obviously sport is at the heart, but in some past games, any other areas are forgotten; I felt Beijing 08 was very 'one dimensional' with sport the sole focus. London 2012 is already pioneering design for the new decade as well as being a massive beacon of regeneration though, and it is helping to bring communities together.
As designers, it is often said the final outcome isn't what matters, but it's the process. I think this is true here- if London 2012 and its mascots have pushed boundaries in design and many other industries, its a success. So all in all, I vote favourably.
documentary: the genius of design
BBC 'The Genius of Design'
Click here to watch Episode 1 (available for seven days)
Although this documentary focusses on design in a wide sense, with a focus on product design, it gives a good insight into the reason we design and how it affects the world around us. The documentary itself is well made and utilises filler shots and background music well; meeting expected BBC standards.
Boris' Bus
If there's one thing Boris can talk about, it's buses. Here is his big new idea for new Routemaster buses; even if they bear little resemblance to the original Routemasters.
article: how the internet is changing Whitehall
From BBC News
Web revolution sweeps Whitehall
Never mind the events in Downing Street. There is a revolution going on in cyberspace too.
DCLG website
Work is under way to update departmental websites
Government web activity was frozen during the general election campaign but now that the new coalition Lib Dem/Conservative government is taking shape it has exploded into frenetic life. Continue reading
'Parliamentary Waffle'
Parliamentary Waffle
A glimpse into the life of politicians and their manifestos. Love the simplicity of the design.
Don't Play With Your Food!
Some of the incredible sculptures and artworks featured in The Guardian this week. The art is encouraged by the Experimental Food Society. The artists of the two pieces on the left are Emma Staite and Carl Warner respectively.
typography
Superpower: the internet
The BBC are running a season this March looking at the internet. Is the internet the greatest power the Earth has ever seen? How can we take advantage of it, but how can it be used for bad too? How will it change the way we live, and the way we design?
Digital Revolution & Infographics
Masses of fascinating information regarding our virtual revolution has been organised into clear, easy to use graphics. The era of reams of data and tables are over as we live in a new period where 'infographics' take centre stage.
Future Technology: SeeSaw
http://www.seesaw.com/
Combining the libraries of iPlayer, 4OD, CatchUp and DemandFive, SeeSaw looks positive to be the next phase in the online revolution. First it was information made freely available, then music, and now programming. Will this see the TV become extinct in time? Bottom line: watch this space.
Our World
An inspirational video about our beautiful planet. The shots and camera movements fit perfectly with the music; a great video that evokes many emotions.
Nicholas Felton: Excellence in Information Design
Felton decides upon a strict colour scheme for his works. The less colours used, the better; in the image to the left, only two colours are needed- yellow and black. This keeps the image simple, but most importantly, the strict colour scheme ties together the information.
He has also paid attention to the typography. A striking headline sans-serif font is used sparingly, but contrasted with a carefully construction serif font.
The image itself is interesting. It is strange how different a place looks when all borders, landmarks and streets are taken away. The image depicts the true shape of New York, and unintentionally illustrates the human impact upon the landscape excellently.
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