My fetish for fonts

Confession. I have a fetish for fonts. I've always loved the stately shapes of Palatino, the humanist clarity of Bauer Bodoni, the elegance of Edwardian or more recently Beurre, the flash of LTC Caslon Swash, the coolness of Futura, even the simplicity of Calibri.

I continue to search for the perfect handwritten font, i.e. one that is clear, legible, with character, but not wacky. The closest to what I am looking for that I have found so far is Atland from Blambot.

This morning, however, I was stunned to find in the editorial page of the New York Times, a prominent advertisement at the top for, guess what, fonts. Not a tiny ad on the side, but right in the middle at the top. Check it out here.

Does this mean that fonts are becoming, darn it, popular? Does this mean that I am not alone in having a font fetish? Does this mean I will be able to confess my fetish and loads of other people will stand up and confess, "Me too!"

Does this mean that pretty soon we will be seeing fonts.com shops sprouting up in malls around the world, and huge crowds attracted by the announcement of the next big new font?

When my fetish was a exclusive, private affair, like a taste for fine wine or Tiepolo prints, I was happy to nurse it and deal with it. But now that it's becoming something that every Tom, Dick and Harry has, I'm not so sure. Does anyone know of a 12 step program to deal with a font fetish?

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Comments

[David Glover]

No Steve, you're not alone. And forgive me for being a real pedant by pointing out the distinction between "typefaces" - the form of the characters on the page or screen; and "fonts" - the medium which carries the typeface. So you buy a font (a digital file these days) in order to use the typeface. Hmm, it sounds even more pedantic when I try to explain!

Thanks for introducing Blambot to me. Now I can spend (waste?) more time looking at their typefaces.

Have you discovered the P22 font foundry (p22.com)? They have fabulous fonts derived from the handwriting of Cezanne, da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright and the writers of the Declaration of Independence. I've given a few as gifts and they've been hugely appreciated.

[Miguel]

Once a typelover, always a typelover. There is no return.

You should check out some of the typefaces that are used in editorial design settings such as the Scotch face Miller by Matthew Carter (Georgia's print twin) available at Font Bureau.

Then there are classically inspired faces such as Requiem by Jonathan Hoefler, available at typography.com, as well as non-historical forms such as the typeface used by Esquire called Mercury, also at typography.com.

A new star in the type design world is Christian Schwartz. See his designs for the Guardian and others at commercialtype.com.

Another favorite of mine is Gerard Unger, gerardunger.com, who makes absolutely stunning typefaces for print and now for the Web. Check out Capitolium, in particular.

[Steve Denning]

Miguel,

Luscious new fonts. Wow! Now that is a Christmas present. Thanks so much for this lovely gift.

Steve

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