Being overly sensitive to typography is like having an allergy
11/18/09 10:20 Filed in: miscellany
“I think
sometimes that being overly type-sensitive is like an
allergy,” said Michael Bierut, a partner in the
Pentagram design group in New York. “My font
nerdiness makes me have bad reactions to things that
spoil otherwise pleasant moments.” One of his (least)
favorite examples is the Cooper Black typeface on the
Mass sign outside a beautifully restored 1885
Carpenter Gothic church near his weekend home in Cape
May Point, New Jersey. “Cooper Black is a perfectly
good font, but in my mind it is a fat, happy font
associated with the logo for the ‘National Lampoon,’
the sleeve of the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ album and
discount retailers up and down the U.S.,” Mr. Bierut
explained. “I wouldn’t choose it as a font for St.
Agnes Church even as a joke. Every time I go by, my
vacation is, for a moment, ruined.”
Find out how bad Mad Men has been doing with historically-accurate fonts.... in the NYT
Find out how bad Mad Men has been doing with historically-accurate fonts.... in the NYT