Typographer.org

bald condensed from february 2005

I'd like to introduce a pet peeve of mine to this column: typographic onomatopoeia. I don't even know if you can say that in proper English, but what the heck, it's my column, so sue me. I use that concept to define two things. First there's stereotypes in typography. I mean, it's already bad enough that some people feel an irresistible urge to open ranch-style tea rooms, I really don't need them to ram it down my throat with big spiky serifs. Same goes for Chinese restaurants implying I can't grasp the notion of an establishment that serves Asian food without ridiculous fake Asian calligraphy to go with it. Second are the type designs that are way too literal, for example ornamented caps that have actual flowers stuck to them. Like our tutor told us in our first year at the Academy: "Just because you typeset porn doesn't mean you need to use characters that are made up with little erect penises."

So, now that that's out of the way, let's get to it.

Two weeks ago Veer released 30 new type families from Device a.k.a. one-man foundry Rian Hughes, celebrating ten years in type design (see also the interview with Rian on Typographica). 30 families indeed, a grand total of 112 fonts if I counted them correctly, all released in one big gulp. In typical Device fashion it's a very eclectic mix, ranging from stylish text faces to fonts so quirky their possible usage seems predefined by their design.

On a general note, it's undeniable Rian knows how to design type. His background in illustration and graphic design plays a defining role in his style and makes him an interesting subject of scrutiny. The concepts he comes up with are well-fleshed out and impeccably executed, resulting in balanced, coherent typefaces. He manages to inject a unique personality into each of his designs and — what's even more important — succeeds in keeping it up throughout the complete character set. Plus he earns big points for the audacity and sheer madness of some of his typefaces.

Back to the current release. As far as the text faces go, I couldn't help but be a tad disappointed. I didn't discern the worthy heir to Rian's fabulous Paralucent family I was hoping to find. The Rogue family that was designed as an accompaniment to Paralucent for Loaded — London's notorious lads-mag — lacks the immediate appeal of the latter and looks wilfully over-designed. Here, his background as an illustrator works against him, as "style" tends to get in the way of the type. I prefer Dynasty, which is more rounded and very open in its squareness. And I'm partial to its wedge-shaped details and chiselled stroke endings. Ritafurey is just so mad I still have to make up my mind if I like it or not. But usually I consider that a good sign.

I've got more of a problem with a number of his display faces, which dangerously veer towards — you guessed it — typographical onomatopoeia. There are a couple of ornate faces, something rarely seen in Rian's oeuvre. Yolanda has pendants dangling from its capitals, Moonstone simply — errr — sparkles, and there are friggin' leaves sprouting on Dauphine's characters. This release even includes outright revivals. I was convinced we had left behind inflatable type in the seventies; I'm not so sure anyone was waiting for an alternative to Stop; and Electrasonic looks like it belongs to a campy 80s disco record sleeve. Make no mistake, they're all very well executed and will certainly find their way to their target audience. It's just that I'm not convinced said target audience will appreciate the quality of the type offered to them nor be willing to shell out the dough to license it. My position is simple: if they are going to produce crap typesetting, let them use crap type.

Fortunately, there are a couple that I really like as well. It's no coincidence that those are the ones that succeed in removing themselves just enough from the source material. Absinthe is the perfect sci-fi/Jugendstil hybrid, Straker is pure compu-retro goodness, Radiogram takes the Bifur model in new directions, and Xenotype just makes you wanna shake yo' booty. My favourites are Miserichordia, a crazy, joyous decorative serif font; an experiment in readability called Monitor which just happens to look very cool; and the deliciously chunky stencil face Payload which includes a great spray-can version.

"Spray-can version"? Did anyone say anything about typographic onomatopoeia?

The advent of the CD and its increased storage capacity has created a luxury problem for the album as a concept. Due to the 45 minute limit of an LP, artists were forced to be very critical about their material and had to weed out the lesser songs. Nowadays the length of an album on CD can be up to half an hour longer. So some artists feel the need to include more songs, resulting in potentially great albums that are marred by the inclusion of weaker tracks.

I get the feeling the same thing might have happened here. Though fundamentally there's nothing wrong with the 30 new releases, it's a shame some weaker fonts detract from the quality of the good ones. I'd rather have had a kick-ass, tight collection of 20 great families, especially since Device is a signature foundry which has always offered top-notch quality. Long live the 45 minute album.