Everything old is new again

by Rick Blechta

In case you didn’t know, I’m an admitted typography junky. I’m referring to those glyphs you’re looking at right now, meaning each letter of this sentence. And that’s where one part of the problem is. Type junkies tend to speak their own, specialized language. I also own over 6000 different typefaces.

This post came about from Sybil’s very interesting post of last Wednesday. In it she talks about a font, Sans Forgetica, specifically designed to help with memory retention. I don’t know whether it works, but it is an interesting idea, the kernel of which is that if something is slightly more difficult to read, you’ll remember it better. Forgetica is another wordplay on the names given to type families (Helvetica anyone?) coupled with the word “forget”. So the complete name means basically “without forgetting”.

Just before we leave this new idea in typography, I actually laughed out loud when I saw the name of the font. It’s a typographical play on words. First of all, “sans” refers to one class of fonts but it’s usually accompanied by “serif”. Put together, sans serif means “without serifs”.

Here we go again, another phrase only typographic junkies are interested in. Most of you probably have no idea what a serif is and why not having serifs is An Important Thing. Here’s a quick read to help you understand (assuming you’re still with me). You only need to read the first part of the article — otherwise you risk becoming a typographic junkie too. You have been warned!

Serif fonts are primarily used for what is called “running type”. Why? Because it’s the least exhausting to read for long periods. And Sybil, I guess this is the reason you’re not retaining as much as you’d like. Where do you see the greatest use of serif fonts? In books, of course.

Sans serif font families were designed primarily for display typesetting. You’ll see it most often used in headlines, section headers and the like. In our computer age, it’s come into its own because it displays better on computer screens. You’re reading a sans serif font (Arial) right now.

Now here’s the kicker, some of the most famous and still-used font families are hundreds of years old and the genesis of serif fonts goes all the way back to the Romans. Ever use Garamond? It was designed back in the 16th Century by Claude Garamond. And there are lots of others of this vintage still in use.

Good, readable typefaces tend to have long lives. They were designed very carefully with specific goals in mind. Even the ubiquitous Times font is nearing 100 years old.

I’m going to stop myself now because I could go on for pages and pages. See? Typography junky…