4 ms·

After his coffee book, I'm not surprised to see that he's burned out on industrial design for now.

jillesvangurp 5y ago
Not sure he's done yet. Good new fonts are a rare thing and he might be on to something. With hdpi now very common, typography for screens can evolve. The stark minimalist typography of early computers was very much driven by the necessity of having very limited resolution, contrast, and dynamic range. Sans serif fonts like Helvetica, and its many derivatives, with its straight lines & simple curves were optimal for that type of screen. Serif fonts, with their fiddly details are a lot harder to render in a pleasing way on such screens. However, with modern screens, those problems are addressed to the point where there is little practical difference in resolution between print and screen. So, making the most of modern screens through design becomes a challenge. Serif fonts are still popular for print for a good reason: they are pleasing to the eye and it helps readability. If you work from first principles to address such a challenge on a modern screen, you'd start with a font and a serif font would be not such a strange choice as it used to be. Just my opinion, but both font and logo strike me as rather beautiful.
- stonogo 5y ago
  The fonts burned into CGA, EGA, and VGA bioses all had serifs. The default UI fonts on many X Window systems UIs, including CDE, were serif fonts. The 80-column card in the Apple IIe had a serif font. There was really only the first-generation home computer (and arguably first-gen PDAs) that widely shipped strictly sans-serif fonts; a blip in the history of personal computing.
  - jillesvangurp 5y ago
    Steve Jobs was into typography. Embracing Helvetica for the Macintosh was not an accident in the early eighties. Later pcs were about wysiwyg. Which given the primary medium was still paper for dtp and wordprocessing software, meant serif fonts.
- lukebuehler 5y ago
  I cant wait for the serif revival. Soon we are going to return to much more intricate, embellished, and ornate design, just like the seal in the article. As you say, the new displays are gonna make it feasible.
  - nemo44x 5y ago
    Google is going to have to change their logo again! One thing I always respected about MongoDB is they use a serif font for their logo in a time and age when virtually no startup would use such a thing. And then a sans-serif font for their products under it, so it really pops. I think design in the early-90's has a chance of reemerging. Just lots of fonts being aggressively used and lots of serif fonts. Things that would make David Carson proud.
  - WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
    I changed my system font to IBM Plex Serif, my desktop theme to the old revered Motif-like style, and my colors to the pastel orange and teal palette of CDE. Never did it look so pleasant before.

Not sure he's done yet. Good new fonts are a rare thing and he might be on to something. With hdpi now very common, typography for screens can evolve. The stark minimalist typography of early computers was very much driven by the necessity of having very limited resolution, contrast, and dynamic range. Sans serif fonts like Helvetica, and its many derivatives, with its straight lines & simple curves were optimal for that type of screen. Serif fonts, with their fiddly details are a lot harder to render in a pleasing way on such screens. However, with modern screens, those problems are addressed to the point where there is little practical difference in resolution between print and screen. So, making the most of modern screens through design becomes a challenge. Serif fonts are still popular for print for a good reason: they are pleasing to the eye and it helps readability. If you work from first principles to address such a challenge on a modern screen, you'd start with a font and a serif font would be not such a strange choice as it used to be. Just my opinion, but both font and logo strike me as rather beautiful.

stonogo 5y ago
The fonts burned into CGA, EGA, and VGA bioses all had serifs. The default UI fonts on many X Window systems UIs, including CDE, were serif fonts. The 80-column card in the Apple IIe had a serif font. There was really only the first-generation home computer (and arguably first-gen PDAs) that widely shipped strictly sans-serif fonts; a blip in the history of personal computing.
- jillesvangurp 5y ago
  Steve Jobs was into typography. Embracing Helvetica for the Macintosh was not an accident in the early eighties. Later pcs were about wysiwyg. Which given the primary medium was still paper for dtp and wordprocessing software, meant serif fonts.
lukebuehler 5y ago
I cant wait for the serif revival. Soon we are going to return to much more intricate, embellished, and ornate design, just like the seal in the article. As you say, the new displays are gonna make it feasible.
- nemo44x 5y ago
  Google is going to have to change their logo again! One thing I always respected about MongoDB is they use a serif font for their logo in a time and age when virtually no startup would use such a thing. And then a sans-serif font for their products under it, so it really pops. I think design in the early-90's has a chance of reemerging. Just lots of fonts being aggressively used and lots of serif fonts. Things that would make David Carson proud.
- WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
  I changed my system font to IBM Plex Serif, my desktop theme to the old revered Motif-like style, and my colors to the pastel orange and teal palette of CDE. Never did it look so pleasant before.