laura@uw-beaver) (10/20/83)
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Date: 19 Oct 1983 21:39:42-PDT
From: utcsrgv!utcsstat!laura@uw-beaver
To: utcsrgv!uw-beaver!laser-lovers
Subject: How aware are people of fonts?
Last weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada. I went home. My mother was
contemplating which of 2 books she would teach her grade 8 class.
I picked up one book, and said "Yuck, don't teach that, what an awful
font! My eyes would hurt trying to read this!"
My mother was surprised that I would judge a book, not by its content,
or even by its cover, but by the font that was used. It had not
occurred to her.
This makes me wonder if we who think that font design is something
important are in the minority.
What do you think?
Laura Creighton
uw-beaver!utcsrgv!utcsstat!lauralaser-lovers@uw-beaver.UUCP (David Fuchs <DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA>) (10/20/83)
From uucp Thu Oct 20 06:37:01 1983
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Date: Wed 19 Oct 83 23:00:15-PDT
From: David Fuchs <DRF@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Re: How aware are people of fonts?
To: utcsrgv!utcsstat!laura@UW-BEAVER.ARPA
cc: laser-lovers@WASHINGTON.ARPA
In-Reply-To: Message from "utcsrgv!utcsstat!laura@uw-beaver" of Wed 19 Oct 83 21:39:42-PDT
On the other hand, your mother might be very surprised to find that
many school districts and state school boards have very strict
typographic standards for their textbooks. Just try publishing a
primary school text in 10 on 12 point, and see how many you sell.
If you add a little sugar to your prepared-food-product, you'll sell
more of it, even though consumers and retailers may not be aware of
this fact. Likewise, students can read a well designed book faster
and with higher comprehension than a messy one, even though they and
their teachers might not realize that that's the reason one book just
seemed to work out better than the other. (Yes, content is even more
important than design, but all other things being equal...)
Clearly, we who think that font design is something important are in
the minority, as are those who think that good book design and quality
illustrations are important. We just happen to be right. The rest of
the world is more uninformed than wrong-thinking.
-David
-------baskett@Shasta>) (10/20/83)
From uucp Thu Oct 20 06:39:43 1983
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Date: 19 Oct 1983 2232-PDT (Wednesday)
From: Forest Baskett <decwrl!baskett@Shasta>
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Subject: Re: How aware are people of fonts?
Message-Id: <8310200532.AA26273@DECWRL>
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To: laser-lovers@uw-beaver
In-Reply-To: Your message of 19 Oct 1983 21:39:42-PDT.
<8310200518.AA26197@DECWRL>
Well, how many of you base you hardcover versus paperback book buying
selection on whether the hardcover is nicely printed with nice fonts?
I tend not to buy the hardcover version if it isn't nice but instead
wait for the throwaway paperback. I developed this tendency long
before I became intellectually aware of "font city".
Forestlaser-lovers@uw-beaver.UUCP (Christopher Schmidt <SCHMIDT@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>) (10/21/83)
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From: Christopher Schmidt <SCHMIDT@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Re: How aware are people of fonts?
To: Laser-Lovers@WASHINGTON.ARPA
Not at all. I hold up the popularity of the New York Times
as an example. It is probably the most popular paper among the
intelligentsia of this country and is probably the most poorly typeset and
laid out. It hurts my eyes to read it, and I refuse to try.
--Christopher
-------laser-lovers@uw-beaver.UUCP (harrison%ucbarpa@Berkeley (Michael Harrison)) (10/23/83)
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From: harrison%ucbarpa@Berkeley (Michael Harrison)
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To: laser-lovers@washington
Subject: How aware are people of fonts?
Type setting (not to mention font design) be the ultimate triumph
of form over content.