I Hate Zapfino, Papayrus, Imp..

Of course the “I Hate ITC Garamond” caught my eye as the first short essay I should read because I too hate fonts. Not like saying I casually hate things, but I really do have a strong underlying hatred towards certain typefaces and I can’t help it. They pop up places when you least expect them. They take all sense of credibility away from otherwise reputable companies. It’s a curse, and I feel his pain.

The Father of Hypertext was interesting. I do love that old book smell. But I think the most interesting short essay was “How to Become Famous.” Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Graphic Designers is just a funny thing in general. I’ve always wondered what makes certain designers considered provocative and others insane or not known at all. “A lot of women designers don’t feel there are enough famous women designers, a lot of African-American designers don’t feel there are enough famous African-American designers, a lot of designers from Ohio don’t feel there are enough famous Buckeye designers, and so forth. And, of course, a lot of individual designers don’t feel that they themselves are sufficiently famous,” I think is a valid quote and true in any field. I did find his point about creating three really good pieces a year to stay relevant interesting and I think that it’s pretty true.

I really just enjoyed all his typeface references through out all the essays too. Like Garamond, it’s one of the few things that everybody agrees on. Not unlike accusations of plagiarism being subjective. I had Phil Megg’s History of Graphic Design as a textbook in undergrad and it had a lot of great stuff in it. Wonder if I inadvertently plagiarized something.