Re: Font Selection Methodology

Subject: Re: Font Selection Methodology
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 13:55:08 -0300


Jan Henning wrote:


I never thought of this as a country-specific issue.
Some stats I've seen that are a decade old suggest that sans serif fonts are used almost exclusively in North America for body text. In Britain, serif fonts are mostly used for body text, but sans serifs are sometimes used. In mainland Europe, sans serifs are mostly used, but serifs are used about a third of the time.

I suspect that the reason for the popularity of sans serifs in Europe is that most of the inventors and design philosophers of the New Typography of the 1920s (whose ideas determined the shape of modern design as well as the definition of "avant garde" for the last seventy years; for example, for much of that time, Futura has been seen as being a modern-looking font)were European.
One of the central tenets of the new typography in the 1920s was a preference for sans serif fonts over serif fonts. The most vocal advocate of this element was Jan Tschichold, a German designer, whom the Nazis gave a choice of either imprisonment or banishment, on the grounds that his designs subverted Germanic culture. After World War II, Tschichold ended up as the lead designer for Penguin Books in Britain, but, by that time, he had long ago softened his position and was more open to the use of serifs, going so far as to design several serif fonts, including Sabon.

I don't know for sure, but I speculate that the change in Tschichold's opinions and country may have played a large role in the national preferences. When Tschichold advocated sans serifs, he was working in Germany and other central European countries; when he accepted the use ofserifs, he was working in England. Since he never worked in North America, this particular aspect of his ideas never caught on, although most of the others, such as asymmetrical design, did for some reason.

I also speculate that, given the overwhelming Americanization of global culture, serif fonts are probably used much more frequently in Europe today than they were when the statistics I cited were collected.

--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"Never eat at a dinner called 'Mom's,' never play cards with a guy named 'Doc,' and never get involved with a woman who's got bigger troubles than you."
- Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm




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References:
Re: Re(2): Font Selection Methodology: From: Dick Margulis
Re(4): Font Selection Methodology: From: Jan Henning

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