4 ms·

The ‘custom’ font has been identified¹ as Grilli Type GT America² with minor spacing change and a Twitter logo in the PUA. ¹ https://twitter.com/jeffjose/statu

by kps 5y ago

The ‘custom’ font has been identified¹ as Grilli Type GT America² with minor spacing change and a Twitter logo in the PUA. ¹ https://twitter.com/jeffjose/status/1425626162219286529 https://twitter.com/jeffjose/status/1425626162219286529 ² https://www.grillitype.com/typeface/gt-america https://www.grillitype.com/typeface/gt-america

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
chociej 5y ago
It's very similar to Roboto. Noticeable differences side by side, but very similar.
Freak_NL 5y ago
It looks like they've put a picture of an apple in the Private Use Area as well at U+F8FF. Weird; there's no need for the PUA there; just pick (heh) U+1F34E (red apple) or U+1F34F (green apple).
- GranPC 5y ago
  It's for compatibility with the Apple logo that is displayed on iOS devices when that codepoint is rendered.
  - bspammer 5y ago
    I enjoy the pettiness of not using apple’s actual logo.
- SllX 5y ago
  That’s a holdover from MacRoman.[1] If you’re on a Macintosh, Option Shift K at least on the standard US layout. Still comes up in Apple docs and user forums. [1] http://www.alanwood.net/demos/macroman.html http://www.alanwood.net/demos/macroman.html
warent 5y ago
Interestingly that means Twitter text is no longer fully portable. If you copy some text from Twitter, you specifically need Chirp to render it properly or else characters like their special logo character will be broken for all other fonts  Because they're using the "Private Use Area" of the font improperly... Maybe I'm paranoid but I'm feeling like this is an intentional decision in order to push other fonts/foundries to start adding the Twitter logo as a standard Unicode character. Basically bypassing the need for consensus by just forcing the matter and cementing their logo in typography standards.
- TheRealPomax 5y ago
  So, the same as literally every other font that uses PUA (which is the majority of icon fonts).
- Qub3d 5y ago
  Have you ever seen nerd fonts? This is not a new idea at all: * https://www.nerdfonts.com/ https://www.nerdfonts.com/ * https://fontawesome.com/ https://fontawesome.com/ I don't think this will push fonts/foundaries to add the twitter logo any more than I feel pushed to use the twitter logo in handwriting. Fonts are very nice in that the user still enjoys a high level of choice in the matter. Heck, even the twitter nonsense could be fixed with a stylus/tampermoney script of one or two lines.
- chipotle_coyote 5y ago
  This seems a little paranoid, yes. :) What text do you envision copying from Twitter that's going to specifically include their special logo character? It's not going to be in anybody's tweet text. > Because they're using the "Private Use Area" of the font improperly... Uh, isn't putting your own characters in Unicode's private use area specifically what that area is for? Isn't that where fonts that have dingbats unique to them, for instance, would put them?
- xorcist 5y ago
  Not likely perhaps, but could this be one way to retain more copyright over tweets in the future? Most companies based on user generated content try to claim ownership over it by way of agreements. That has always been murky legal territory and it's not easy to know what value they have. If the proper rendering of content was made dependent on proprietary fonts, that could be one way to exercise control over where that content can be used. It's not impossible that making users pick proprietary emoticons could have economic value. Remember where you heard it first...
OzzyB 5y ago
Yes, welcome to Corporate Typograhism™ where big corp takes an already existing (copyrighted) font -- change it a little -- then release it as their own. Some Copyright is more Copyright than others...
- mikedc 5y ago
  The implication that this is a practice being used to skirt copyright is wrong. In almost all cases the font foundry is commissioned by a company to produce a distinct (or not so distinct as the case may be) variant of a typeface/family, licensed to them for their use - as an alternative to having the foundry create an entirely new typeface from scratch.
  - OzzyB 5y ago
    The point I'm making is that you can simply modify an already existing font "just enough" for it to be considered a new work. This is essentially what happened with Arial w/ Helvetica; and companies have been doing this ever since to create new licenses that they can control. We are drowning in Grotesk/Sans-Serif/Helvetica type fonts! Do we really need another "Big Tech Sans"? Or rather, why can't Twitter just use X? xD
- raxxorrax 5y ago
  At least there is no copyright on the alphabet.
  - LocalH 5y ago
    Yet.
andrewingram 5y ago
Ironically making it not even that unique amongst "social networks", since Depop adopted GT America as their brand typeface back in 2017. Whilst Depop is technically a shopping app, it's one with a heavy skew towards social networking functionality. Though to be fair, Depop uses GT America Extended and Expanded, rather than Standard.
raxxorrax 5y ago
Ah, another serif-less, proportionally spaced font. Quite hard to notice the differences.

by kps 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

chociej 5y ago

It's very similar to Roboto. Noticeable differences side by side, but very similar.

Freak_NL 5y ago

It looks like they've put a picture of an apple in the Private Use Area as well at U+F8FF. Weird; there's no need for the PUA there; just pick (heh) U+1F34E (red apple) or U+1F34F (green apple).

GranPC 5y ago
It's for compatibility with the Apple logo that is displayed on iOS devices when that codepoint is rendered.
- bspammer 5y ago
  I enjoy the pettiness of not using apple’s actual logo.
SllX 5y ago
That’s a holdover from MacRoman.[1] If you’re on a Macintosh, Option Shift K at least on the standard US layout. Still comes up in Apple docs and user forums. [1] http://www.alanwood.net/demos/macroman.html http://www.alanwood.net/demos/macroman.html

warent 5y ago

Interestingly that means Twitter text is no longer fully portable. If you copy some text from Twitter, you specifically need Chirp to render it properly or else characters like their special logo character will be broken for all other fonts  Because they're using the "Private Use Area" of the font improperly... Maybe I'm paranoid but I'm feeling like this is an intentional decision in order to push other fonts/foundries to start adding the Twitter logo as a standard Unicode character. Basically bypassing the need for consensus by just forcing the matter and cementing their logo in typography standards.

TheRealPomax 5y ago
So, the same as literally every other font that uses PUA (which is the majority of icon fonts).
Qub3d 5y ago
Have you ever seen nerd fonts? This is not a new idea at all: * https://www.nerdfonts.com/ https://www.nerdfonts.com/ * https://fontawesome.com/ https://fontawesome.com/ I don't think this will push fonts/foundaries to add the twitter logo any more than I feel pushed to use the twitter logo in handwriting. Fonts are very nice in that the user still enjoys a high level of choice in the matter. Heck, even the twitter nonsense could be fixed with a stylus/tampermoney script of one or two lines.
chipotle_coyote 5y ago
This seems a little paranoid, yes. :) What text do you envision copying from Twitter that's going to specifically include their special logo character? It's not going to be in anybody's tweet text. > Because they're using the "Private Use Area" of the font improperly... Uh, isn't putting your own characters in Unicode's private use area specifically what that area is for? Isn't that where fonts that have dingbats unique to them, for instance, would put them?
xorcist 5y ago
Not likely perhaps, but could this be one way to retain more copyright over tweets in the future? Most companies based on user generated content try to claim ownership over it by way of agreements. That has always been murky legal territory and it's not easy to know what value they have. If the proper rendering of content was made dependent on proprietary fonts, that could be one way to exercise control over where that content can be used. It's not impossible that making users pick proprietary emoticons could have economic value. Remember where you heard it first...

OzzyB 5y ago

Yes, welcome to Corporate Typograhism™ where big corp takes an already existing (copyrighted) font -- change it a little -- then release it as their own. Some Copyright is more Copyright than others...

mikedc 5y ago
The implication that this is a practice being used to skirt copyright is wrong. In almost all cases the font foundry is commissioned by a company to produce a distinct (or not so distinct as the case may be) variant of a typeface/family, licensed to them for their use - as an alternative to having the foundry create an entirely new typeface from scratch.
- OzzyB 5y ago
  The point I'm making is that you can simply modify an already existing font "just enough" for it to be considered a new work. This is essentially what happened with Arial w/ Helvetica; and companies have been doing this ever since to create new licenses that they can control. We are drowning in Grotesk/Sans-Serif/Helvetica type fonts! Do we really need another "Big Tech Sans"? Or rather, why can't Twitter just use X? xD
raxxorrax 5y ago
At least there is no copyright on the alphabet.
- LocalH 5y ago
  Yet.

andrewingram 5y ago

Ironically making it not even that unique amongst "social networks", since Depop adopted GT America as their brand typeface back in 2017. Whilst Depop is technically a shopping app, it's one with a heavy skew towards social networking functionality. Though to be fair, Depop uses GT America Extended and Expanded, rather than Standard.

raxxorrax 5y ago

Ah, another serif-less, proportionally spaced font. Quite hard to notice the differences.