3 ms·

Lobster and Comic Sans are both highly stylized font-faces, Helvetica is not. It's okay for Helvetica to be common because it doesn't scream "Hey look at me, I'

Lobster and Comic Sans are both highly stylized font-faces, Helvetica is not. It's okay for Helvetica to be common because it doesn't scream "Hey look at me, I'm Helvetica!" When non-stylized things become very common, it's usually because they're good all around choices: their popularity advances the field. When extremely stylized things become very common, it typically leads to embarrassment down the road. In music for example, it's now very common to have the drums in the center of the mix. This is the default because it makes sense. You only notice the panning of the drums when it's something else. In the eighties it became extremely common to use almost nothing but synths, and to have the snare drum drenched in reverb. You listen back to eighties material now, and at best you appreciate the campiness of these things. Mostly they seem like a weird obsession that suddenly gripped the whole industry and warped everything to come out of it for a decade. The modern day equivalent of course is Autotune.

tptacek 14y ago
Grotesque sans were uncommon before the (say) 60s, and were very stylized for the time. You just don't notice that because we've been accustomed to them for so long, and because they are very effective for their purpose. The parent comment is correct. Comic Sans isn't just stylized; it's a stylized face designed for a very particular purpose (as a stand-in for the hand lettering in comic books). And the problem with Comic Sans isn't that it's overused. It's that it's used in inappropriate places. There is nothing wrong with making safe, popular choices in typefaces. Designers may gripe about how cliched Gotham is, but Gotham works. Comic Sans virtually never works. This post does not make a case that Lobster never works.
- powrtoch 14y ago
  > Grotesque sans were uncommon before the (say) 60s, and were very stylized for the time. Source? Wikipedia sayeth about Helvetica: "The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage." There's a history of sans-serifs (with emphasis on grotesques) here http://www.linotype.com/en/795/thesansseriftypefaces.html?PHPSESSID=0641f83aea23fabe3c6f41f77198c82e http://www.linotype.com/en/795/thesansseriftypefaces.html?PH... that seems to suggest they had caught on pretty well by the 20s.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    Best I can do: http://www.freddesign.co.uk/2010/04/archive/the-differences-between-akzidenz-univers-helvetica-and-arial/ http://www.freddesign.co.uk/2010/04/archive/the-differences-... ... which suggests that Akzidenz didn't come into modern use until the '50s.
baddox 14y ago
> It's okay for Helvetica to be common because it doesn't scream "Hey look at me, I'm Helvetica!" But it does scream that at me.

tptacek 14y ago

Grotesque sans were uncommon before the (say) 60s, and were very stylized for the time. You just don't notice that because we've been accustomed to them for so long, and because they are very effective for their purpose. The parent comment is correct. Comic Sans isn't just stylized; it's a stylized face designed for a very particular purpose (as a stand-in for the hand lettering in comic books). And the problem with Comic Sans isn't that it's overused. It's that it's used in inappropriate places. There is nothing wrong with making safe, popular choices in typefaces. Designers may gripe about how cliched Gotham is, but Gotham works. Comic Sans virtually never works. This post does not make a case that Lobster never works.

powrtoch 14y ago
> Grotesque sans were uncommon before the (say) 60s, and were very stylized for the time. Source? Wikipedia sayeth about Helvetica: "The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage." There's a history of sans-serifs (with emphasis on grotesques) here http://www.linotype.com/en/795/thesansseriftypefaces.html?PHPSESSID=0641f83aea23fabe3c6f41f77198c82e http://www.linotype.com/en/795/thesansseriftypefaces.html?PH... that seems to suggest they had caught on pretty well by the 20s.
- tptacek 14y ago
  Best I can do: http://www.freddesign.co.uk/2010/04/archive/the-differences-between-akzidenz-univers-helvetica-and-arial/ http://www.freddesign.co.uk/2010/04/archive/the-differences-... ... which suggests that Akzidenz didn't come into modern use until the '50s.

baddox 14y ago

> It's okay for Helvetica to be common because it doesn't scream "Hey look at me, I'm Helvetica!" But it does scream that at me.