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Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey (2014)
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- petschge 5y agoAwesome as always, but unfortunately from January 2014, not a new post by Dave Addey.
- mattowen_uk 5y agoSeeing as the 4K re-scan/refurbished version of 2001 is now out on disc, it might be worth a re-visit to nail down those inconclusive typefaces?
- 600frogs 5y agoTypography, to me, is one of those things that’s simultaneously incredibly boring and completely fascinating. On the one hand, it’s something you experience (whether consciously or not) for a large part of your day, and each font you read in your day has been meticulously chosen for all the supposed qualities it gives off. But on the other hand - it’s just a bloody font.
- dirtyid 5y agoThe sheer breadth of typography experimentation in latin alphbet is also astounding. Also personal impressed by how much Japanese typographers managed to keep up with trends and culture. Not many scripts out there with good steam / cyberpunk options. Chinese pretty close. Korean seems to be lagging despite hangul being alphabet. Arabic + Hindi... very disappointing (though default beautiful). But that's just cursory exploration.
- outworlder 5y agoJust a bloody font, the choice of which can greatly enhance your experience (or detract from it). I would recommend https://practicaltypography.com/ https://practicaltypography.com/ EDIT: mind you, typography is much more than 'just fonts'.
- NikolaNovak 5y agoI've started reading it. I'll finish it. But it's subjectively the worst font (or layout, or kerning, or aliasing, or something - I'm extremely not an expert:) I've seen since... mid-90's? I don't know HOW they made it look that bad; I checked if they were accidentally-enlarged images, but nope. In addition to letters looking (subjectively) bad, it also looks strange. Kernings looks slightly off, and the "Small but necessary interruption" feels like it has another 3 fonts in there. Perhaps They're just lighter or narrow variations (again, not an expert), and then the user-added ALL CAPS with different spacing yet... it feels I'm reading 19th century print. Which is quaint, might be precisely what author is looking for (I once spent an hour trying to get letters on a CD look JUST the right amount of offset and wobbly :P ), but feels a bit... old school. https://practicaltypography.com/typography-in-ten-minutes.html https://practicaltypography.com/typography-in-ten-minutes.ht...
- BitAstronaut 5y agoAny suggestions on good reading to learn?
- throwdecro 5y agoYeah it's strange, the content is about typography, but something about it is really hard to look at, at least on Mozilla Firefox. On some pages e.g. the typography-in-ten-minutes page it looks like the first paragraph is slightly, but not obviously, larger than the subsequent paragraphs. Everything seems stretched vertically, and the stuff in all-caps is borderline A E S T H E T I C with the horizontal spacing.
- outworlder 5y agoInteresting, it does look different on Firefox (vs Chrome-based browsers).
- achairapart 5y agoIt's not ALL CAPS but sᴍᴀʟʟ ᴄᴀᴘs[0]. The author uses them as links, perhaps to illustrate this very difference. See also 14, 15 from "Summary of key rules"[1]. Sorry for the nitpick, but at the end that's actually what 90% of typography is all about, tiny details. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_caps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_caps [1]: https://practicaltypography.com/summary-of-key-rules.html https://practicaltypography.com/summary-of-key-rules.html
- KineticLensman 5y ago> it’s just a bloody font. Obligatory http://wondermark.com/650/ http://wondermark.com/650/
- 600frogs 5y agoHeh, first time I’ve seen this. I’m of the opinion that as long as you’re not using something wildly out of place like papyrus or comic sans in a professional setting, it’s not hugely impactful what font you choose. You can spend hours comparing the subtle differences between helvetica and ariel but does it really make a difference? Also unrelated but the shocked dude in the last pane looks way too much like Elon Musk for my liking.
- KineticLensman 5y agoI think fonts can make a difference where readability or accessibility is important. One example of a bad font choice in the UK is on the signs placed on roads after fatal accidents which ask witnesses to provide information. The contact number is written in a font that looks like a seven-segment display and that is virtually unreadable when you are driving past. The designer must have thought it looked good but it is unreadable. (Elon Musk lol)
- myself248 5y agoWhen someone leaves their computer unlocked in my presence, I don't give them new wallpaper. Okay sometimes I still do, but mostly I've moved beyond that. I change their Outlook signature to Comic Sans. Someday I will get my comeuppance.
- gbrown 5y ago> Someday I will get my comeuppance. May they throw the CFAA at you, villain.
- Xavdidtheshadow 5y agosee also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ
- MengerSponge 5y agohttps://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole
- bierjunge 5y agoA designer friend explained it to me with this image: https://i.redd.it/38jjcgaqu1g11.jpg https://i.redd.it/38jjcgaqu1g11.jpg Yes, the font you use to communicate with others matters. It's like the tone of your voice and your body language in a personal conversation.
- atoav 5y agoBeing trained in typography is like a curse. You will suddenly see all the mistakes and amateurish design decisions everywhere, and you will hate them. On the other hand you can create something that looks good in 5 minutes.
- MauranKilom 5y agoRelevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1015/ https://xkcd.com/1015/
- pathOf_aFineMan 5y agoWould you be able to recommend resources on learning towards becoming somewhat trained in typography? Beyond blogs and coursera courses, where might one start?
- creativenolo 5y agoGrid Systems in Graphic Design: A Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional Designers By Josef Müller-Brockmann https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MLYiAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MLYiAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y
- flir 5y agoThe Elements Of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst. Just enough to be dangerous, and a great read to boot.
- chrstphrknwtn 5y agoThis is more than just enough to be dangerous, this is more or less the bible of using typography and typesetting, but not type design.
- flir 5y agoIf OP is still reading, this comment is correct. The book I recommended is great, but doesn't fit your needs.
- tyingq 5y agoJohn Carpenter apparently also liked that Albertus font used here in the "Dawn of Man" title card. It shows up in opening credits for Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, and They Live.
- beautifulfreak 5y agoAlso Christine, Starman, and Escape From L.A. https://fontsinuse.com/uses/19085/directed-by-john-carpenter https://fontsinuse.com/uses/19085/directed-by-john-carpenter
- ChrisArchitect 5y ago(2014)
- ChrisArchitect 5y agomore recent discussion / popular one a year ago about Star Trek The Motion Picture: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24567455 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24567455
- bmitc 5y agoIt’s this very blog post that inspired me to start using Eurostile Bold Extended in my user interfaces.
- nielsbot 5y agoNeeds a (2014)
- ChrisArchitect 5y agoreminder: you can enjoy the content/link without upvoting it.
- gpvos 5y agoyes, but when you really enjoyed it, why not upvote it when you come back?
- MarkLowenstein 5y agoWow. This is the answer to a prayer I didn't even realize I had. I have been in love with those 50s/60s-era computer-industry fonts for the longest time but never thought I'd know the names of these gems. Eurostile Bold Extended, I'm in heaven.
- RicoElectrico 5y agoOn a related note, I just could not stand how Witcher 3 chose to use DIN font for the UI. Sure, it's hyper-legible, but detracts from the "medievalesque" setting. There must have been better alternatives to choose from, even if only lightly stylized. Hell, just any humanist font like Optima, Gill Sans would better blend in. Or something similar to Chiaro (admittedly Japanese-first font) used in the Ocarina of Time.
- RicoElectrico 5y agoOh, maybe even go for something resembling "Antykwa Półtawskiego" if we embrace the Polishness of the source material (sure, as-is it'd need legibility adjustments, but it's a text font nonetheless)
- hanoz 5y agoThe author has a series of these by the way, including a rather wonderful one on Moon: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/02/11/moon/ https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/02/11/moon/
- mongol 5y ago2001 is in it's own class. Nothing compares to it. It set a standard in futurism that is very hard to match.
- DrOctagon 5y agoI was flying from LA to Sydney a few years ago and 2001: A Space Odyssey was available on the entertainment system. After a few hours and a couple of glasses of wine I put it on and fell straight asleep. I awoke groggily some time later to this[0] frame from the movie. The next second and a half I experienced pure terror until I realised I wasn't plunging to my death in the middle of the pacific ocean and how the pre-flight safety briefing really sugar coats the reality. [0]: https://typesetinthefuture.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/2001_life_functions_terminated_full.jpg https://typesetinthefuture.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/2001_...
- MikusR 5y agoAre there people who have managed to watch this movie in one sitting without falling asleep?
- p_l 5y agoYes. I was captivated the first time I watched it, many years after watching 2010. However, if I watched it on a plane, I'd probably fall asleep as well - because it would be on a plane and I tend to sleep while I travel :)
- Koshkin 5y agoAs with some other movies, this critically depends on how you watch it. Immersion is key here, so you must watch it on a large screen, in high resolution (and definitely in one sitting).
- mrslave 5y agoThe subtext to the requirement that only strong and willing passengers sit in the emergency row is not their ability to open the door in the event of an emergency, but to block the aisle and stem the flood of panicking passengers in the rows behind while a staff member opens the door.
- javchz 5y agoTo this day, HAL 9000 "Logic Memory Center" room is one of my favorite scenes from cinema, not only because being one of the more tense parts of the movie but the art direction. It's amazing how modern and cleans looks even today, and the execution of graphic/industrial design (including typography) it's still one of the best out there. I mean, I would love a NAS where you eject a caddy with a front glass glowing ID. Would be more expensive, but HDD industry it's full of "pretty hardware" that could be cheaper, but looks cool.
- albert_e 5y ago> UPDATE: Heather, in the comments to this post, has correctly identified this font as Manifold from the DSG IBM Selectric Type Element Catalog. Thank you Heather – a fantastic spot! I don't think its quite the same. Atleast the character for ZERO (0) used in the movie seems to be egg-shaped unlike Manifold typeface.
- indiantinker 5y ago2OO1 not 2001