Garfield, Simon - Can a Font be German or Jewish?

Reading Simon Garfield’s article ‘Can a Font be German, or Jewish?’ brought light to something I subconsciously knew: fonts have a significant impact on the way we interpret the meaning of words and the greater image they accompany. In his article, Garfield describes the breadth of fonts in today’s world, as the vast selection in FontBook demonstrates, and how certain fonts have a very long and somewhat unfavourable history. Garfield focuses on Erik Spiekermann who is not just a co-founder of FontBook but an aficionado in the world of typography. The fonts encapsulated in FontBook mimic handwriting, typewriters, Middle Eastern markets, and range from the classic roman and gothic styles to the ridiculous such as Old Dreadful No 7 which resembles icons more than letters.

The article describes Spiekermann as a well versed designer as well as an incredibly thoughtful one. He creates fonts with a concept in mind, looking to feelings and emotions. Despite this, the client doesn’t always follow his planned vision. The Berlin Philharmonic, for example, took the font he created for their logo and ignored his recommendation of presenting it on a landscaped backdrop (see Garfield pg. 184). Spiekermann describes his annoyance with clients at times and I believe this is a feeling with which many commissioned artists could identity. As an illustrator, I may have a specific layout or font in mind which I feel best pairs with my images, but a publisher may have a different vision. The art world, whether it be image or text, is satiated with the need to navigate through these technicalities, balancing the feelings of the artist with opinions of the client, before a final piece may be produced.

Berlin Philharmonic - logo

This is magnified in the works of Paul Renner who invented the font Futura in 1924. Renner was working in typography during the Second World War and found militaristic disapproval of his Futura font by the Third Reich when he first developed it. His roman styled text was in direct contrast with the gothic style exclusively used by the Nazi regime. The Nazi developed “jackboot gothic” font as one synonymous with German values and superiority. Renner and others using roman styles were seen as against Germany and therefore enemies. But when the gothic style became outlawed, whether it was because of its Jewish printing association (as the Third Reich would have people believe) or because of the difficulty producing and reading it, the roman style quickly became accepted. This is where the title of Garfield’s article comes into play. Regardless of the true reason behind the switch from gothic to roman type, each text visually conveys different emotions and associations.

I came across a blog by Craig Ward and he states that good typography should be invisible, a point with which I believe Spiekermann would agree. This means that the text should fit seamlessly with the overall image and message of a finished piece. Fonts can make people feel different emotions which is why the right font is so crucial. In the article ‘The science behind fonts (and how they make you feel),’ Mikael Cho describes how humans associate certain styles with specific messages. Cho demonstrates this by showing a Bank of America site as it is and as it would look with a font associated with newspaper headlines.

Cho, M. (2017). ‘The science behind fonts (and how they make you feel)’

The whole feeling of the page completely changes, the second image no longer feels like a banking website, it almost looks like a fraud. This shows that even before you read what is written, the visual that the font and layout convey has already dictated your understanding of the text. It can be painfully obvious when a font is wrong, more so than when it’s right. If Lisa Frank folders were written in a graffiti style it would seem that they were perhaps no longer intended for school children, despite graffiti often containing bright colors.

In regards to how to select the right font, Cho explains that the Il1 (capital ‘i’ with a lower case ‘L’ and a number ‘1’) test is a good indicator of how a font will work. Personally, I plan on using this technique, especially since at the moment the word “Illustration” is appearing quite frequently in my day-to-day life and the ‘ill’ beginning can be tricky to read.

http://untcomdes.blogspot.com/2010/04/good-typography-is-invisible-bad.html

Having preconceived associations with fonts is something I believe all people do whether they are aware of it or not, and I believe those associations are heavily influenced by personal experiences. For example, Paul Renner, who lived in a different time and place than I have, would likely associate gothic font more with the Nazis than anything else, however I associate the style more with history and age. A good example of this can be seen in newspapers. For me, The New York Times font conveys a sense of longstanding history associated with dependability and accuracy. TIME magazine is modern and clean, it makes the information seem current and to be taken seriously. The New York Post is bold and conveys a sense of urgency and pop news.

Another aspect of Garfield’s article which I found speaking to me personally was Spiekermann describing his struggle of working in a digital world since he grew up using wood/metal typeface. He describes that it is a challenge to “create warmth in a digital world” (Garfield, pg. 187). I, too, prefer to work in a physical medium over a digital one. Part of this is due to the fact that I am rather green regarding the digital language of art, but also because I find there is something in my own art that is lost in the digital platform. I enjoy the imperfections of my lines, the stray pencil mark or the feathering of an inked line. For me, my art in digital form comes out too “clean” and lacks something of the art I produced in creating it. The digital image becomes informal and sterile in its perfection. While I have the highest regard for those who not only work in the digital imagery world, but triumph in it, I prefer the physical with the soft, “fuzziness” (Garfield, pg. 186) Spiekermann found in his metal and wood block fonts.

At the moment our MA has an assignment to create an editorial cartoon and so I have been looking at various types of comics. I have noticed that cartoons have a certain expected feel and sense about them in regards to the font. Capital letters are often used for their legibility, but the little finesses of the lettering can completely change who might be the intended audience. Cartoons for kids I find to be clean, neat, and simple while ones for adults can be sharper and sometimes have a snarkiness to them, being a bit too thin or close together. The font styles and images come together to create a tone for the piece as a whole.

We are inundated with different fonts every day and it’s amazing how despite the variety out there, certain fonts are so easily recognized. A single letter can change how you feel in an instant. The letter “M” in a McDonald’s logo is dramatically different than in a Macy’s logo. And the letter “N” changes when it’s typed like Nordstrom vs. Nike vs. New Balance. What’s more, even though both Nike and New Balance sell athletic clothes, you acknowledge that they are not the same brand. Personally, I associate Nike with basketball and New Balance with track, perhaps because of the “swoosh” in Nike vs. the movement in the New Balance ‘N.’

Nordstrom - logo

If a company gains a negative association, its font, logo, and name can quickly become mud. McDonald’s has become associated with cheap quality after “Super Size Me” came out and Nike’s brand took a beating after the Colin Kaepernick ad. Political cartoons mocking these companies need only place a golden arch or “swoosh” into their drawings for the audience to know instantly the reference. The little icons fit in so seamlessly with the fonts that the eye almost inserts in the full brand name when only the icon appears. These company logos and fonts hold a strong representation of the company, despite the associations from bad press.

Garfield’s article brings to light a number of interesting points regarding fonts and typography such as the influence of technology, not as it regards the digital way to produce font, but rather its way of making fonts universal. Modern technology has flattened the world. Cities and countries once were able to inject a certain thumbprint and identity into the fonts they used, but today fonts are shared across the globe, eliminating that sense of individuality and uniqueness (see Garfield pg. 193). Despite this, I believe that people will continue to have personal associations with fonts based on when and where they first came in contact with said font. Helvetica was the font of choice in my previous job and even though I was familiar with it prior, it shall forever remind me of my time working at that theater.

On the whole, much of what Garfield touched upon in his article was incredibly applicable to me as an artist. Font is important in my own art, I scrutinize over which to use for my blog, business cards, logo, and books I write. The font I choose creates a personal identity, and I want to ensure that the emotion it conveys matches my own voice. Font association starts at a young age. Even today if I see an ‘i’ dotted with a big, bubbly circle I am brought back to when I first learned to write and had to decide if I would be a circle or a dot person when writing an ‘i.’ These are memories we carry with us, all packed into the way a word looks on a page.

References:

Garfield, S. (2011) ‘Can a Font by German, or Jewish?’ Just My Type. 181-196.

Links:

The Science Behind Fonts (and how they make you feel)

https://thenextweb.com/dd/2017/03/31/science-behind-fonts-make-feel/

Craig Ward

http://untcomdes.blogspot.com/2010/04/good-typography-is-invisible-bad.html

http://wordsarepictures.co.uk/

Graffiti

http://www.mrpilgrim.co.uk/funky-graffiti-lettering/#.XapR6OdKhE4

Additional / Related Sources:

https://www.logodesign.net/typography-fonts-rules-tools-graphic-designs