Fonts

Was searching around for pics of the “I Love New York” logo to show how the Singapore Day 2007 “I Love Sg” logo uses the totally wrong typeface if it’s intending to be a play on Milton Glaser’s famous logo. Okay, so not everyone has American Typewriter (or the variant that Glaser used) but surely one could use a Courier typewriter-style font.

For various reasons, I’ve been thinking of the Frere-Jones brothers. Firstly, I got in a shipment of magazines from my aunt’s store including an old New Yorker that had Sasha Frere-Jones writing about Mariah Carey and how with the “Fantasy” remix with ODB she invented the whole “male rapper / female chorus” sound that’s so ubiquitous today. Which come to think of it is probably true, that whole sound is such a cliche now. He also writes glowingly about “All I Want For Christmas Is You” as one of the few worth additions to the modern Christmas canon, and it’s nice to know someone shares my opinion of that song.

Here’s the secret to getting your lift to go into express mode. Otis only, apparently. And here’s a playlist of every free song in the iTunes music store. Okay, that just means songs below 30 seconds in length. (Via Jason Barrow.) Queer Eye for the Reporter Gal: how come Superman’s super vision doesn’t come with fashion sense? That red-and-blue outfit really doesn’t work.

Just because I like talking about type: the Danish Design prizewinner for typeface of the year in 2004 was Kontrapunkt.

I’ve realised that for some reason people have been quite intrigued / horrified that I would choose not to buy an iPod because I don’t like its use of Chicago as a font. (Example - heck, I even got a link at the Cult of Mac blog.) To which I say, hey, it’s not like Apple needs my money. And typeface design is a very big thing to me - when I was working at the Let’s Go offices, I hung out with the designers and talked typefaces all day (and all night - we shared an apartment). So if I’m getting something that’s being sold on the quality of its design, all the parts of its design have to mean something to me. Of course, now that the iPod Photo uses Myriad, I don’t really have an excuse…

I know I should want an iPod, it’s the greatest design since sliced bread, etc. etc., but I really, really don’t like the Chicago typeface that it uses. Maybe an iPod Mini, with its more pleasing Espy Sans?

Interesting article in the New York Times today on the typeface used for the World Trade Center memorial. It’s Gotham, designed by Tobias Frere-Jones. (The logical question, of course, was for me to ask if he was related to the New Yorker’s music critic, Sasha Frere-Jones. A comment on the City of Sound blog notes that they’re brothers. I’d love to hear their family discussions.) Gotham’s based on those signs that are classically New York - the Port Authority Bus Terminal sign, chiefly, as well as those P.S. 124 (or whatever number) signs, and so on. I love typefaces that immediately makes one think of a city: I feel that way about Johnston, the London Underground font.

Since people have somehow stumbled onto my blog looking for typeface information, let’s just say that while I love typefaces and general questions of design, maybe Karen over at Snog Blog can provide much more in-depth information. I particularly like that I learnt the name of the typeface used on street signs in Singapore (it’s Rotis, if you’re too lazy to click the link).