[HN Gopher] Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey (2014) ___________________________________________________________________ Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey (2014) Author : sudobash1 Score : 119 points Date : 2021-10-13 20:38 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (typesetinthefuture.com) (TXT) w3m dump (typesetinthefuture.com) | RicoElectrico wrote: | On a related note, I just could not stand how Witcher 3 chose to | use DIN font for the UI. Sure, it's hyper-legible, but detracts | from the "medievalesque" setting. There must have been better | alternatives to choose from, even if only lightly stylized. Hell, | just any humanist font like Optima, Gill Sans would better blend | in. Or something similar to Chiaro (admittedly Japanese-first | font) used in the Ocarina of Time. | bmitc wrote: | It's this very blog post that inspired me to start using | Eurostile Bold Extended in my user interfaces. | atoav wrote: | Being trained in typography is like a curse. You will suddenly | see all the mistakes and amateurish design decisions everywhere, | and you will hate them. | | On the other hand you can create something that looks good in 5 | minutes. | MauranKilom wrote: | Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1015/ | pathOf_aFineMan wrote: | Would you be able to recommend resources on learning towards | becoming somewhat trained in typography? Beyond blogs and | coursera courses, where might one start? | allenu wrote: | This is a good one and has been discussed on HN before: | https://practicaltypography.com/ | sam1r wrote: | Look at open source fonts, study how they are created, and | which components are frequently updated, and create one of | your own. It's much harder than it seems. But definitely do- | able. | creativenolo wrote: | Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Visual Communication Manual | for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional | Designers | | By | | Josef Muller-Brockmann | | https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MLYiAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y | flir wrote: | The Elements Of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst. Just | enough to be dangerous, and a great read to boot. | kleer001 wrote: | Typography is one of those ancient skills that's so well | covered you can't go wrong anywhere you start. The only | problem would be if you needed a class room environment or a | one on one instruction. If you're a self starter then (as | cliche as it sounds) launch off the wikipedia page : | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography | | There'll be tons of instructional websites too. This is a 600 | year old art that hasn't fundamentally changed its | terminology. Anything on the nerdy to practical spectrum of | knowledge is out there for you to grasp. | atoav wrote: | I learned it from an typographer who himself still learned | how to craft typefaces by hand, so there is not much in | current material I can recommend. | chungy wrote: | Typesetting is related and has a similar effect. Being able to | spot every document authored in Microsoft Word and its, | frankly, ugly decisions is not that fun. | ChrisArchitect wrote: | (2014) | ChrisArchitect wrote: | more recent discussion / popular one a year ago about Star Trek | The Motion Picture: | | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24567455 | petschge wrote: | Awesome as always, but unfortunately from January 2014, not a new | post by Dave Addey. | nielsbot wrote: | Needs a (2014) | ChrisArchitect wrote: | reminder: you can enjoy the content/link without upvoting it. | hanoz wrote: | The author has a series of these by the way, including a rather | wonderful one on Moon: | https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/02/11/moon/ | 600frogs wrote: | Typography, to me, is one of those things that's simultaneously | incredibly boring and completely fascinating. On the one hand, | it's something you experience (whether consciously or not) for a | large part of your day, and each font you read in your day has | been meticulously chosen for all the supposed qualities it gives | off. But on the other hand - it's just a bloody font. | outworlder wrote: | Just a bloody font, the choice of which can greatly enhance | your experience (or detract from it). | | I would recommend https://practicaltypography.com/ | | EDIT: mind you, typography is much more than 'just fonts'. | NikolaNovak wrote: | I've started reading it. I'll finish it. | | But it's subjectively the worst font (or layout, or kerning, | or aliasing, or _something_ - I 'm extremely not an expert:) | I've seen since... mid-90's? I don't know HOW they made it | look that bad; I checked if they were accidentally-enlarged | images, but nope. | | In addition to letters looking (subjectively) bad, it also | looks strange. Kernings looks slightly off, and the "Small | but necessary interruption" feels like it has another 3 fonts | in there. Perhaps They're just lighter or narrow variations | (again, not an expert), and then the user-added ALL CAPS with | different spacing yet... it feels I'm reading 19th century | print. Which is quaint, might be _precisely_ what author is | looking for (I once spent an hour trying to get letters on a | CD look JUST the right amount of offset and wobbly :P ), but | feels a bit... old school. | | https://practicaltypography.com/typography-in-ten- | minutes.ht... | throwdecro wrote: | Yeah it's strange, the content is about typography, but | something about it is really hard to look at, at least on | Mozilla Firefox. On some pages e.g. the typography-in-ten- | minutes page it looks like the first paragraph is slightly, | but not obviously, larger than the subsequent paragraphs. | | Everything seems stretched vertically, and the stuff in | all-caps is borderline A E S T H E T I C with the | horizontal spacing. | outworlder wrote: | Interesting, it does look different on Firefox (vs | Chrome-based browsers). | outworlder wrote: | No problems with kerning on my device, that I can see. | | The fonts used, just like in books, each have their purpose | - https://practicaltypography.com/how-to-use.html | | Also, you can change the body text font by clicking the | font name at the bottom. | BitAstronaut wrote: | Any suggestions on good reading to learn? | MengerSponge wrote: | https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole | KineticLensman wrote: | > it's just a bloody font. | | Obligatory http://wondermark.com/650/ | amelius wrote: | That business card should have been in comic sans. | PaulHoule wrote: | It is not just the font it is how you use it. | | Out of the box in PowerPoint or Illustrator, you will | struggle to set large characters in print unless you manually | change character spacing. | | I look at the movie titles and think there are mistakes in | the spacing and wonder what kind of machine they used to make | it. | | All the above software is supposed to have automated | 'Kerninq' of characters but it does not work well enough. | | If serif spacing is tight, the letters link together like | cursive or Arabic calligraphy and form a meaningful | composition. The default rules, however, avoid serifs | crashing into each other at all costs, space letters too far | apart, and create meaningless white spaces. | gumby wrote: | > I look at the movie titles and think there are mistakes | in the spacing and wonder what kind of machine they used to | make it. | | They were probably done by hand, especially given the | swapping of characters from different fonts. | | I've forgotten the name of the company [flir reminds me in | the comment below that it was Letraset], but it was common | back then (yes, I'm an old fart, though was a kid when that | film came out) to have a transparent sheet with adhesive | vinyl (? or some other polymer) letters you could transfer | over one by one to your workpiece. If you went into a an | art supply house there would be racks of these things | sorted by font and then size, down at least to 8 point. | | Back in 1968 phototypesetting was not super common. It was | probably used for some of the larger blocks (like the | toilet instructions) although just as likely to have been | done with hot lead which survived almost to the end of the | 1970s. | | It's hard to remember now (this mostly predated my working | time since I started with laser printing in the 70s) but | medium and large companies often had a lot of paper and | data management departments with things like typing pools | (completely retyping documents in order to incorporate | edits was the state of the art) and print shops | (photocopiers were expensive and uncommon into the 70s) | flir wrote: | Letraset? | gumby wrote: | Yes, that was it! Thanks so much. | luca3v wrote: | I am feeling really dumb for asking: the punchline of the | comic is clearly that there is something terribly wrong with | the typesetting of the business card, but what is it? | asciimov wrote: | Relevant SNL Skit: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ | ics wrote: | The font on the business card is Papyrus. | bewuethr wrote: | See also https://youtu.be/jVhlJNJopOQ | jfk13 wrote: | ...which is a quite distinctive font that has shipped | with Mac systems for years, so someone typeface-conscious | is very likely to recognise it on sight. | Sharlin wrote: | The typeface is Papyrus [1], which is... not exactly adored | by people who care about such things. | | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_(typeface) | 45ure wrote: | It does seem to stir up some strong emotions. | | _Years after Avatar 's release, there's one thing Steven | (Ryan Gosling) just can't get over._ | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ | 600frogs wrote: | Heh, first time I've seen this. I'm of the opinion that as | long as you're not using something wildly out of place like | papyrus or comic sans in a professional setting, it's not | hugely impactful what font you choose. You can spend hours | comparing the subtle differences between helvetica and ariel | but does it really make a difference? | | Also unrelated but the shocked dude in the last pane looks | way too much like Elon Musk for my liking. | KineticLensman wrote: | I think fonts can make a difference where readability or | accessibility is important. One example of a bad font | choice in the UK is on the signs placed on roads after | fatal accidents which ask witnesses to provide information. | The contact number is written in a font that looks like a | seven-segment display and that is virtually unreadable when | you are driving past. The designer must have thought it | looked good but it is unreadable. | | (Elon Musk lol) | Xavdidtheshadow wrote: | see also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ | mongol wrote: | 2001 is in it's own class. Nothing compares to it. It set a | standard in futurism that is very hard to match. | tyingq wrote: | John Carpenter apparently also liked that Albertus font used here | in the "Dawn of Man" title card. | | It shows up in opening credits for _Escape from New York, The | Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, and They | Live_. | beautifulfreak wrote: | Also Christine, Starman, and Escape From L.A. | https://fontsinuse.com/uses/19085/directed-by-john-carpenter | MarkLowenstein wrote: | Wow. This is the answer to a prayer I didn't even realize I had. | I have been in love with those 50s/60s-era computer-industry | fonts for the longest time but never thought I'd know the names | of these gems. Eurostile Bold Extended, I'm in heaven. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-10-13 23:00 UTC)