Bread Line Design

Any idea what a metal magazine, an arctic adventure and an electro house night have in common? They’re all abusing the Base 02 typeface that I love to hate. When a new and unique typeface bursts onto the design scene It can be expected to proliferate like bunnies on viagra, I’ve no issue with that. What annoys me is when designers persistently use the typeface in place of actual design, letting the font do the work where a piece of original thinking would have proudly sat. Take Sam and Richard Bransons book Arctic Diary. Here was a great opportunity to create a clever, original title graphic showing the harshness of the arctic environment and the human struggle against the odds, instead we’re treated to an overused grunge font that we see at least five times a day on club flyer’s, CD covers and government anti-whatever adverts.

Like a DJ shunning that chart topper to play a gem of a record that few have heard but hits the spot, designers should take the time to explore the ever expanding font libraries to find the faces that will make their design unique, because the other option is recycling tired typefaces of yesteryear, and where’s the originality in that?