Re: Serif vs. sans serif? (Take II)

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

"Hart, Geoff" wrote:
> 
> <<For one thing, fonts have a connotative history that affects how are they
> are perceived. Black letter fonts are reminiscent of the Nazis.>>
> 
> Since when? They certainly don't have that connotation with me. Admittedly,
> only one of my relatives (a great uncle) lost his whole family to the Nazis,
> so perhaps I wasn't traumatized enough to learn this association.

See? This is what I mean. If you chose a black letter font for an ad
just because you liked it, your company might get a very chilly
reception in Germany.

Background: The Nazis used black letter fonts because they were more
"German." Typographers like Jan Tschichold (who, more than any one is
the reason that central Europe is fond of of sans serif fonts) were
given a choice between imprisonment and leaving Germany (let it never be
said that a choice of fonts wasn't an important matter!).

Since World War II, Germany, and probably many parts of Europe, have
reacted against black letter fonts. My understanding is that the
reaction has softened a little in recent years, but the connotation is
strong enough that Neo-Nazis often used black letter fonts.

 
> <<Because of Apple, Garamond is a popular choice for technical manuals.>>
> 
> No, it was a popular font because of its esthetics and legibility first;
> Apple chose it for that reason. It's used commonly in technical manuals
> simply because Garamond is part of the core font pack that ships with ATM
> and many laser printers.

None of what you say is wrong. However, why is a Garamond used? (because
there really isn't a font called Garamond, just a collection of similar
fonts, suppposedly inspired by Garamond's designs) It's usually not the
default, and there are other choices just as likely in the most commonly
seen fonts.

> <<An informed choice of fonts requires an awareness of such histories.>>
> 
> Not at all. Maybe _you_ would notice the historical connotation of a font,
> but most readers (and most designers I've talked to) wouldn't. 

No, but some people would. When I worked at Stormix Technologies, most
of the twentysomething employees couldn't see why I said using the word
"stormtroopers" in advertising was a bad idea, but the fortysomethings
did (including the Israeli CEO). Obviously, you can get overly paranoid,
but when a sizable minority is going to have a negative reaction, you
should think twice about negative connotations.

> Okay, hands up everyone who knew this and abandoned Optima for this
> reason... Anybody?

Irrelevant. I said that most tech-writers don't have this sort of
awareness, and my wording should make fairly clear that I believe that
this sort of connotation is going to be made unconsciously.

But, to give you a more obvious example: if you were selling lingerie,
would you use bold, ultrablack fonts? I doubt it. The heaviness and
thickness of the letters would seem wrong for the product. Or, to take
the opposite extreme, consider a fine script font used to selling heavy
mining equipment.

> As you note, simplistic statements don't accomodate the complexity of this issue.

Granted. I was being too general.


> So how do you choose--objectively--between two fonts that are both "good
> enough"? You do it subjectively. There's no one perfect font for every
> combination of conditions. Once you've narrowed down your choice based on
> objective criteria, there are always several alternatives, and the choice
> between them comes down to purely subjective factors.

Of course. My point is that there is a degree of objectivity in an
informed choice of fonts. What were you just saying about simplistic
statements ;-)

-- 
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"Fool's luck can only take you so far ... after that you have to get out
and walk."
=Tom Holt, "Olympiad"

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