4 ms·
Actually Helvetica is an evolution of the 1896 typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akzidenz-Grotesk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akzidenz
by blt 11y ago
Actually Helvetica is an evolution of the 1896 typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akzidenz-Grotesk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akzidenz-Grotesk
- raldi 11y agoBut it wasn't designed by an evolutionary algorithm; it was designed by a genius typographer who trusted his own sense of taste.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- fixermark 11y agoI'm not sure where you think taste comes from besides evolution of ideas and data analysis done by black-box functions inside people's heads. Formalizing that process and using externally-collected data is just de-black-boxing something that happens in a black-box form in the professional's mind.
- ryandrake 11y agoAlso, making decisions based on wishy-washy difficult-to-quantify human traits like "genius" and "sense of taste" seems unnecessarily risky, compared to making them based on measurements from repeatable tests.
- raldi 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_committee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_committee
- ryandrake 11y agoI'm not advocating design by committee. I'm advocating justification with data. The designers should propose candidate designs. But the decision about which one to go with (or whether to redesign at all) should be supported by whether going with it furthers the business's goals. You point out the need to pick the right measurement, and I agree, but it could be as simple as "What's the effect on conversion?" It has to be something! You can't just say "We're re-designing because I'm a HMI genius."
- raldi 11y agoWhen a company is capable of replicating those black-box functions as an algorithm or business process, then it will be ready to launch the era of automated design. Until then, the best known way to design something nice is to hire a talented designer and trust their instincts.