A Different Breed

I recently read an article about Matthew Carter who is a relatively
famous typographer.  My first thoughts were obviously focused on
how big a nerd this guy probably was.  But after reading further
about all of his accomplishments, I have developed a newfound
respect for a breed of nerd I have yet to encounter.  I never truly
realized that ever since the invention of printed text the invention
of typography came with it.  I was also unaware of how exhaustive
the process of creating a unique font truly is.  To typographers,
letters must fit within an alphabet the way a poet wants words to
fit within a poem.  Going on with the analogy, a typographer is
much concerned with the proportions, character, and overall
aesthetic design of his alphabet which, respectively, could be
described as the rhyme and meter, the diction, and tone of a poem.
However, typographers must also balance their aesthetic goals
with the practical side of letters in that they must be easily legible.
It is interesting to see how the craft affects my life in such subtle
ways that I never realized up until now.  Even in my own blog, I
have unwittingly been using two different fonts (we call them
typefaces in the biz) to distinguish my own personal blogs from
the blogs associated with a topic involving a technology class I’m
taking.  This blog, based on a class topic, is in Georgia font.  I
picked it simply because it was easy for me to read and I liked the
look of it, but for all I know it could very well have been created
for a very specific purpose like subtitles on theater marquees or
footnotes on fishery pamphlets or refurbished text for highway
signs.  Incidentally, for a town so close to Illinois, St. Louis’
highway signs have an appalling disregard for serifs.  To be fair,
it’s the same typeface I see on every major highway in any state.
And apart from “Illinois”, other words which require serifs, like
“Illogical” or “Illusory,” may not be all that easy to find on highway
signs.