![]() ![]() It represents maintaining the established power and order in place. We associate Helvetica with authoritative things because governments use it so much (the EPA, Nasa, ‘Do Not Enter’ signs, bus stops, government tax forms), and therefore imbues Helvetica with the power to conquer, control, and colonize. It presents itself as neutral and merely aims to get the point across, but in reality it may not be as innocent as it first appears. As with Baskerville, Helvetica is also so ubiquitous that there is even a full-length documentary showcasing it, directed by Gary Hustwit. It was created from the Modernist demand for function over aesthetics, which is exactly what Helvetica delivers - accountability, transparency, and accessibility. ![]() It is a sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman. Is perhaps the most famous font in the world. Morris’ experiment therefore illustrates how your choice of letterforms has an impact on how much authority your words carry. So ideas that the words it contains flow seamlessly into our minds without the bat of an eye. Morris himself jokingly now claims he writes all of his manuscripts in Baskerville.īaskerville has been practically baked into our subconscious to represent the intellectual authority of dead white authors. This font was indeed designed by John Baskerville in England in the 1750s and has since been popular among publishers of “classics” series and textbooks. Out of all the fonts, Baskerville proved to be the most trustworthy.Īnd why is it considered trustworthy? It does disappear to the reader more easily than other fonts with exotic strokes and designs, allowing for more unconscious absorption of the underlying information.īut more importantly, we are simply exposed to Baskerville a lot, especially through the old English literature that forms the basis of our education system. In 2013, the acclaimed filmmaker Errol Morris ran a bold experiment testing various fonts and their ability to convey “truth” to the readers of the New York Times. Baskerville and Helvetica are key examples of typefaces designed by European white men and are used to maintain order. This means that the very words we see have bias in them, since they show a limited range of human experiences, many of them colonial and oppressive in nature. Even now, the type design field is 84% white. That is why typography has historically been an industry dominated by European and American white men. ![]() Due to the elitist and discriminatory graphic design schools of the past, type designers of color had limited access to the tools and knowledge necessary to create typefaces. Letterforms are culturally loaded objects that reflect the people who made them as well as the narrative they want to tell. All type is subliminal, and there is always an underlying context. What type designers understand more than anyone is that type is power - the power to express words and ideas. We stare at typefaces (fancy word for fonts) everyday - Helvetica Neue on iMessage, Roboto on Facebook, and Calibri on Outlook, but rarely do we really think about the people who designed the letterforms we allow into our minds. ![]()
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