Typefeces
by Bennett Holzworth, (25 comments)
I am always fascinated when I hear of a designers disdain for a certain font. Sometimes I totally agree and other times I almost feel embarrassed for having used a font that others disdain. I have included a few tidbits I have come across over the last few years of specific fonts that certain designers hate. What font do you loath?
Of course there is the famous Design Observer post in which Mr. Bierut expresses his hatred of ITC Garamond.
Listening to Noreen Morioka at an AIGA event, she expressed how sick she was of the ubiquitous Gill Sans.
Here are a few thoughts conveyed in Be A Design Group posts.
Drew declares and end to Mrs. Eaves.
In agreement with the majority(I assume) of designers in the country, Tom and Donovan give Comic Sans the shake down.
“Is that Insignia? Gross!” David Kadavy says this about a font on a deck of classic type design that Donovan posted about.
Comments (25)
Michael Joyce said:
Overuse is death to a good typeface. Gill Sans, Garamond since the debut of the Mac, Officina Sans in the mid 90’s, Mrs. Eaves in the late 90’s.
Hell, Gill Sans now ships with WindowsXP.
Posted on September 2, 2005
kadavy said:
I don’t care how much they use Gill Sans. I assert that it is a good font (except for the bold version, which is a bastardization).
Posted on September 4, 2005
Bennett said:
The bold isn’t nearly as bad as the extra-bold. Home Depot should stop torchering us with it. The small dot on the “i” is the worst.
Posted on September 4, 2005
JonSel said:
As beautiful a typeface as Trajan is, I just can’t bring myself to use it anymore. It seems like the movie industry is only capable of using it and Gill Sans ExtraBold.
Posted on September 4, 2005
Adrian said:
Arial is my guilty pleasure…
Not nearly as bad, but I secretly enjoy when a good designer uses Futura. I used to really like Optima, but I find myself not liking it as much after I had to reinstall it and I think I got a different version now or something. Maybe it is just my imagination. I have never been a fan of Verdana or Georgia, but I sort of like Georgia online. I go back and forth on Gill Sans. Does anybody else share my love/hate relationship with certain fonts?
Posted on September 5, 2005
JonSel said:
I don’t secretly enjoy good uses of Futura. I worship it. I think well-done Futura is a beautiful thing. Kit Hinrichs is the best at it. I have yet to master the face, but I keep trying.
Posted on September 6, 2005
Joseph said:
I absolutely cannot stand Papyrus any longer. I’m sick of it. Everywhere I look. It’s by far the worst and most over-used typeface I’ve ever ran across.
It makes me angry to think about it. that’s how much I hate it.
Posted on September 6, 2005
Ammon said:
I am going to agree with Joseph. Papyrus is the most over-used typeface in the history of planet Earth. Just flip through the yellow pages, you’ll see it at least once on every page. It’s like every small business owner at once decided to plaster it all over their business cards, store windows, advertisements, etc. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t so recognizable.
Posted on September 6, 2005
Bennett said:
Papyrus… Yikes! Someone needs to tell design students to stop using this one on their resumes.
Has Comic Sans met it’s match in Papyrus?
I used to be a fan of Optima as well, until I heard someone reference it with the bell-bottomed ’70s. We have some old archived files that we have to work with that have Optima in them. I can’t even successful print an InDesign file to our laser printer with the version of Optima that we have.
Posted on September 6, 2005
Joseph said:
I think Papyrus has got to be a contender for worse typeface ever used. What’s worse is I was forced to work with it on a huge client account! Hell. Pure hell. Thank god those days are over. Now it’s like the world is rubbing it in my face. Ammon’s right, it’s everywhere. Road signage, yellow pages, TV, dreams … nightmares! I’d rather use Garamond for the rest of my life than have to look at Papyrus for one more day.
Posted on September 6, 2005
DC1974 said:
I always think of Brush Script as the classic font of amateur design. It reeks bad taste to me. But for a font that is more like ITC Garamond is to Mr. Bierut — like nails on a chalkboard — I would have to choose Palatino. It bothers me every time I see it. Perhaps it’s because I used it to set all my term papers while studying anthropology. I hate it the way I hate all nighters trying to get to 17 pages and worried about that first 9 AM class deadline.
Posted on September 6, 2005
Adrian said:
When an untrained person is choosing a font they want to pick a font with a personality that matches what they are trying to do. Since they can’t tell the difference between Palatino and Garamond, they end up with a Papyrus or Brush Script because they don’t look like anything else. Instant personality. And the world gets a little uglier…
Posted on September 6, 2005
nate said:
I had a battle with a student that lasted for 2 semesters about using Papyrus. I won when she started seeing it, literally, every time she left the house.
I hate Papyrus. So. Much.
Posted on September 6, 2005
Michelle said:
This thread made me laugh out loud! Isn’t it funny the topics that can inspire such intense opinions!
I hate papyrus too. I think people use “decorative” typefaces when they want to stand out and then everyone does it and…. ahh, no harm done, just visual offense.
I admit I do like Optima. And I dislike Futura, only because I have a client who has used it since the seventies, the condensed version. Enough!
You can solve the problem with hand-lettering… :-)
Posted on September 8, 2005
p.berkbigler said:
So nobody’s going to dive in and go for Mojo or Hobo, eh?!
A couple of prime offenders that were heinous even in their prime - ‘60’s poster design never hurt more than when it suffered from extreme cases of Mojo…
Posted on September 9, 2005
Kyle said:
I used to think my early college art projects were so cool with Brush Script. And Palatino was my font of choice for all my papers through high school and college freshman year. DC1974 hit the bullseye for me.
Posted on September 16, 2005
Bennett said:
I have an aversion to the overuse of Rosewood. I tested my theory of “use Rosewood and win a design award.” So far my theory has proven true. This is becoming a bit of a legend amongst my designer friends. Judges can not resist the temptation of Rosewood.
I pretty much hate Cooper Black unless it is used in the perfect situation.
Posted on September 16, 2005
Bennett said:
Has anyone else noticed that the logo type for the sci-fi movie “Serenity” is basically a modified version of Papyrus (140% horizontal scale and a few pointy tweaks)? What is worse than using Papyrus on a movie poster? Answer: Using it on a sci-fi movie poster. I have a hard time thinking of a worse font for a sci-fi movie than Papyrus. The movie looks really lame anyway, so at least they are consistent.
Posted on September 26, 2005
Cicada said:
I realize I’m getting in on this several months too late, but I have to also voice my hatred of Papyrus. I will tell anyone who’ll listen that I can see it used at least once daily, without even trying. I was really disappointed to see it used for Serenity. I simply don’t understand why they couldn’t just pay someone to create an original font.
Posted on November 26, 2005
Joe Wagner said:
I’m way late. But I am surprised how consistent the anti-papyrus movement is. I love it (pops)!
Posted on March 20, 2006
Dan said:
The Papyrus movement is in full swing. I want to go and re-do this http://www.triodayspa.com/spapack.htm spas identity for free it irks me so bad! I see it everyday on a huge billboard. Gross.
Posted on April 28, 2006
Jay said:
Yes! Papyrus must die! One of these days I’m gonna take out my camera and get as many pictures of business using Papyrus on their signs/windows and make a website about how much I hate it. Chances are I can get at least 15 pictures in a 4 block area.
Posted on May 7, 2006
Melissa said:
I think it is interesting that a group of designers can sit around and discuss typefaces by calling them fonts. Get some education folks. Learn the difference between a font and a typeface. The only thing I can think of when I read this is… where did you all get your education?
Typeface vs. Font: The term font is often used as a synonym for typeface, which is not technically correct. For example, some may refer to Times Roman as a font, but it is actually a typeface that defines the shape of each character. Within the Times Roman typeface there are many fonts to choose from — different sizes and styles (e.g., italic, bold and so on).
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/fonts.asp
Posted on May 7, 2006
Drew said:
I’ve been ranting about Papyrus for years and I didn’t think anyone was listening. I feel like I’ve found a bunch of kindred spirits here… it’s like the KKK but we hate papyrus and it makes me want to jump for joy and burn every billboard sign using the abomination to the ground.
>> Click here to read my full sermon on the subject … I’d love to have some supporting comments on that particular blog entry!
Posted on January 18, 2007
Seth said:
I, too, was stunned when the Serenity logo surfaced with all its Papy-crapness. The Firefly treatment and usage was always so beautiful and tastefully done… then, what? They had a secretary take 5 minutes to throw together the movie logo? Even worse, it’s the type on the side of the ship! Like designers far, far in the future are still going to be using Papyrus… bleh.
Posted on May 8, 2007