Re: typeface to go with photographs of various kinds

From: kris.erickson@utoronto.ca
Subject: Re: typeface to go with photographs of various kinds
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 20:02:23 -0400

> Bringhurst's book, "The elements of typographic style," is one of
> the definitive books out there, in my opinion. It's very complete,
> and very well argued. Anything anyone can say here is probably put
> much better by him in that volume.

Yes I use this book. But what I wanted to see discussion here is what
kind of factors from photography side people take into account
when deciding the face, not the info on typography itself. I gave up
on this one anyway, though... (no relevant response so far.)

> 1. Readability: a familiar type face (Times, Garamond, Palatino, or
> Perpetua--faces books and newspapers are commonly set in) or a
> simple face (Optima, Univers--faces often used for signage and
> advertisement headings and brief passages) are often best.

This still leaves huge variety of type faces, and it doesn't consider
photographic aspects at all. I somehow think it's a huge mismatch to
put Garamond-set text by silver gelatin prints of modern subject
matters made from commercial material. Similarly, I don't think it's a
good thing to use Optima with many alt processes including hand coated
silver gelatin. Don't ask me why -- that's the kind of things I want
to learn now.

> 2. Overused type faces: Courier (a very typewriter-looking face), as
> well as the common "web" fonts, are frequently overused. Although
> they can often suffice on screen, I would argue that they don't look
> 'right' on the printed page (it feels like there is a lack of
> maturity or an edge of naivety--amateurism? Maybe just personal
> taste ;-)

I don't know if you are specific about Courier or typewriter faces in
general. Courier and Prestige are quite different. But I don't think
one can do much about web... What are the common "web fonts?" Any
font can be specified in html pages but if the browser doesn't have
the font, that is it and things get displayed with default font.

> 3. Rarer faces: some of the rarer faces, especially when they differ
> slightly (subtly) from the common faces, are quite exquisite. Bulmer
> is a personal favourite of mine. So are Joanna and Californian.

Bulmer is nice. But it is said to be an ATF version of Baskerville and
it's remarkably similar to some digital versions of "Baskerville."
(I see differences from original Baskerville though).

--
Ryuji Suzuki
"You have to realize that junk is not the problem in and of itself.
Junk is the symptom, not the problem."
(Bob Dylan 1971; source: No Direction Home by Robert Shelton)