Ha. I do have a soft spot for this era, where all manner of fonts and freehand were jumbled together in a single document. In honor of your half serious attack

Ha. I do have a soft spot for this era, where all manner of fonts and freehand were jumbled together in a single document. In honor of your half serious attack, I'll offer a half serious rebuttal. Mostly I love the single use fonts designed for one menu, one restaurant sign, one film title card, or here, one amateur magazine cover. The most hated fonts today are the descendents of these: the wacky theme fonts like comic sans or papyrus. My pet theory is that those fonts draw out such contempt because they are faux unique. They are a cookie cutter way to try to signal originality. But back then! Somehow people had time to churn out new special lettering every single day. Some were better than others, but all of them represented work and risk and an aesthetic commitment. That crazy page one diamond two tone? In one sense it's... Just not very sophisticated. In another, though, it's play. And more creative risk than I've taken on a font today, or yesterday, or possibly ever.