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Typography is an artform, but don't blame science for its decline but rather conformism. I've generally known people to weep and wail when something strays an i
by jart 5y ago
Typography is an artform, but don't blame science for its decline but rather conformism. I've generally known people to weep and wail when something strays an inch from Helvetica, Computer Modern, and Roboto. Therefore, all one needs to do to be an 85% expert at type is put <style>@font { roboto: url(data:...) charset(latin1); }</style> at the top of an html page and everything magically looks good. If I wanted to get into typography then I'd probably do it by learning Arabic since it's all cursive and really complicated, which means plenty of opportunities for creativity.
- beardyw 5y agoIn many ways the familiarity and apparent simplicity of English text is a big challenge, particularly whole pages of text. A great book to read is Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield. Turns out I live not too far from the resting place of the only matrices of Doves type, at the bottom of the Thames. My brother talks about setting whole pages by hand, and finding a word missing! Apparently it pays to leave a bit of extra space.
- skuhn 5y agoActually, divers recovered them in 2014 to augment a digital reconstruction of the typeface: https://typespec.co.uk/doves-type/ https://typespec.co.uk/doves-type/
- beardyw 5y agoFrom the book > Fearing it's use in shoddy printing and undesirable subject matter [Cobden-Sanderson] took the entire fund to Hammersmith Bridge and threw it in the Thames. If after 100 years it is now for sale it feels a bit sad. I hope it is used well.