Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with typeface

What's my font?

Muirwylde — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:35:05 -0800

[Fontfilter] Short and sweet question for you, fontaholics...what font is used in The Logo Factory logo found here? There are two examples of the logo on the page; one top right in the title bar and one lower down, reversed out in white over purple above a podcast button. Some variation of a 'worn typewriter font' and I know I've seen it, but can't relocate it...thank you for your help!

Which typeface has a particularly well designed semi-colon?

defenestration — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:49:01 -0800

Which typeface has a particularly well designed semi-colon? I'm working on a design that is built off of a semi-colon.

One stipulation:

The upper, dot part of the semi-colon must be perfectly circular—or at least close. Beyond that, I'm just looking for opinions on particularly well designed semi-colons.

Thanks, hive mind!

Moto Logo

Shike — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:27:07 -0800

I need logo and font help. The name of my vintage motorcycle restoration business is MotoKrow. My last name means "crow" in Dutch, and begins with a K. I like vintage motorcycle logos, but don't want to copy. I'm very fond of the old Moto Guzzi logo. Anyone know what that font is? A simple logo like the Matchless one is nice. I'm no designer, and I thought this place full of smart people (like you!) would be helpful. Apologies in advance if I've violated some sort of protocol here.

Taking my documents from sleepy to snazzy

doctor.dan — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:11:41 -0800

I'm looking for a way to snazz up my documents (and in particular my thesis) so it looks a lot less like the canned default Word/Pages themes. Any suggestions on some nice looking (free to cheap) fonts and document layouts I can use anywhere from short report and research proposals to my full-blown thesis? Being lazy and not too artistic, I've always stuck with the default themes in Word (or more recently Pages also). I've been getting bored by them as of late and am looking to give my documents a unique and clean look. I'm not very good at design so be gentle. Any suggestions, or your personal design stories, would be awesome.

Any specific font suggestions would be great as well, Paladino Linotype and Corbel just ain't doing it for me anymore.

I'm trying to win an internet pissing contest with my dad.

Jon_Evil — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:32:06 -0800

What is the font on this "Durham Fair" logo?

Does anyone know the typeface/font used in the Ruby and Ruby on Rails logos?

MediaJunkie — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:35:26 -0800

Does anyone know the typeface/font used in the Ruby and Ruby on Rails logos?

Good typeface for a point-of-sale receipt printer?

herzigma — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:32:02 -0800

Does anyone have suggestions for a good typeface for a point-of-sale receipt printer? I have a project to design messages printed on the bottom of a cash register receipt. These are B&W thermal printers, about 200-250 DPI. The text is 6-12 points. We're going primarily for readability and cleanliness and we're happy to pay for quality. Before we go with what we already have (Verdana, Arial, etc.), we'd love suggestions for what might be better.

I am a typeface... songs about fonts

Katemonkey — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:16:55 -0800

Looking for songs about fonts... I've decided that what I really need in my life is a playlist involving songs about fonts. So far, I have two - "GBI" by Kylie Minogue & Towa Tei and "Times New Roman" by The Applicants.

It would be extremely helpful if they were easy to purchase, i.e. iTunes, Amazon MP3 store, etc.

It would be hilarious if there was a song about Comic Sans.

What is the typeface (font) used on Fender knobs?

jeremias — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:16:48 -0800

What is the typeface (font) used on Fender knobs? Strangely harder to uncover then expected. The "1" is distinctive with absolutely no serif whatsoever. See image here.

How to mix fonts?

LDL707 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:34:03 -0800

How do you pick fonts that go well with one another? I recently decided to rewrite my resume, and I'm trying to decide what font to use for the body. My name, and the headings, are in Copperplate Gothic Bold. How do I find a second font for the body that will look good with Copperplate Gothic? Are there rules? A cheat sheet? Thanks

I'd like to enroll in the Chinese Graphic Designer 101 program, please.

miss lynnster — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:15:28 -0800

I'd love to get tips/resources for 1) learning more about the Chinese language and culture for work travel, 2) doing graphic design for a Chinese audience and 3) learning more about working with Chinese writing (this was helpful, for example).* Thoughts? *Bonus points if anyone can tell me if there are any Chinese typefaces I could access that have a particularly whimsical, fun, or child-like feel. My new job has a factory in China. I will definitely be traveling there at some future point and want to get a head start on studying the language and cultures a bit so that I have more understanding when I'm there. Can you recommend any other sites or tips that would make a tough language easier and less intimidating? I'll probably get the Rosetta Stone for Mandarin, but do you know of a good place to learn Chinese in Los Angeles or online? And if you've tried learning it, what are your tips?

The other thing is that my boss wants to sell more of our toy products in China than we currently are. For this reason I want to learn more about Chinese graphic design and working with Chinese characters. We can get the translations easily from people in the China office, but I want to make sure my designs look fun, appealing and readable to a Chinese audience.

Thanks.

Name the lovely Obama Serif!

potch — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:14:32 -0800

What typeface is used in the Obama promotional materials? No, not Gotham, I'm looking for the serif used for his name. Sample linked inside. Sample: Obama/Biden

Both WhatTheFont and Identifont failed miserably btw.

Thanks in advance!

WTF (What's This Font?)

genial — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:00:31 -0800

I need help identifying a font and WhatTheFont and IdentiFont are failing me. I've cleaned it up and posted it here. I'd like to recreate this as a vector but Live Trace is not working very well with this low resolution image and I can't find the font anywhere. Help?

How can I make an easily changeable window marquee?

bjork24 — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:31:24 -0800

We're moving our theater into a much larger building with giant windows, and I want to utilize one of those windows as a marquee for the movies we're showing. I was thinking along the lines of this. What's the best way for me to create something similar? Basically the only requirements this marquee system would need are:

1. Easy to change
2. High contrast
3. Large size

I was wondering if they make big window decals (like the kind you get when they change your oil) that we could stick to the inside of the window. Other than that, I'm open to whatever else the hive mind might conjure up. Cost isn't too much of a factor, as I'm willing to spend a fair amount of lettuce for a marquee system that fulfills all the above requirements. I'm not, however, made of money, so platinum-plated, anti-gravity plates are out of the question.

Name those fonts, please.

bricoleur — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:42:29 -0800

Another "what's this typeface?" question. What are the two typefaces used in this image?

Handwriting Font Identificaton

chuke — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:24:38 -0800

What typeface are they using to produce the phrase "Catálogo de bicicletas" on this page? Did a search of handwriting-style faces, didn't come up with anything. Do any of you recognize it?

Name this font.

pantheON — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:20:38 -0800

Name this font. Can you help me identify the script font used on this business card?

Help Me Find A Font For My Superstar Jr!

maryh — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:56:53 -0800

Help! I need a font (or at least some good examples of it in use), pronto! I need to make a poster for my son by Monday, and I'd really like to be able to spell out his name in the style shown here (it's 'o', the design that spells out the words disc jockey.) I don't need to download it, I just need a few more examples so that I can fake something passable myself.
I've been googling for the last hour with no luck. Help!

Help me choose a typeface for publishing

Avenger — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:27:36 -0800

What is a good typeface for a re-published public domain book? I'm thinking of re-publishing Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" on Amazon's CreateSpace program. I'd like to publish it (and other public-domain works) at or near cost as a public service. Any suggestions for a readable typeface/font size for this book and any others I may (re)publish in the future?

Right now I'm using courier new 10pt, although I personally think it looks a little too "typewriter-y". Any thoughts?

An English book set in blackletter?

Utilitaritron — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:04:19 -0800

I want to read a book set in blackletter. Not just for titles 8212; I want blackletter for the text. Unfortunately I don't read German, nor a Northern European language, and I want to really read it, not just look at it, so it has to be a book written in English or French. I'd prefer a book from the past two centuries. I'm open to almost any content, although I'd prefer prose (fiction or non).

Does anyone know of a specific book? Or of a publisher, time period, or genre? I have easy access to the University of Minnesota library system.

What is this Typeface?

Taken Outtacontext — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:17:30 -0800

What is This Type Filter: Seen here. I've been looking for a clean san-serif typeface that is a bit condensed.

How to become a typography connoisseur?

lifeless — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:13:54 -0800

I find myself fascinated with the intricacies of typography, punctuation, character sets etc. What books should a newbie read to become a connoisseur on these matters? I've just spent the last couple of hours frantically browsing Wikipedia on the aforementioned topics, ranging from the proper use of dashes and hyphens (more of a style guide thing) to typography and the history of typesetting and finally to Unicode and challenges in digital typography. (Especially web typography -- I've built some web sites, but the typographical subtleties have always escaped me.)

There must be some excellent books available on the topics, and I'm hoping that fellow MeFites could point me to some of them. Good, layperson-oriented introductory texts are appropriate for now, but examples of more advanced titles would be appreciated for future reference as well. Namedropping prominent authors and experts is fine, as are links to relevant websites and blogs.

Basically, I've got the spark, so now I need some kindling.

To be more specific: I have no graphical talents or any real wish to design typefaces etc. myself, but I'd like to learn to appreciate good typography when I see it. Insight into specifics such as kerning, tracking, ligature, whitespace and other key terms would be nice. The ability to judge the quality and aesthetics of fonts would be good, too.

I'm quick to acquire new interests, so if there's something related you think I might get excited over, I'm all ears.

What does _The Economist_ use for mapping and page layout?

arimathea — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:52:25 -0800

What software, typefaces, and page layout tools are used to create the newspaper/magazine _The Economist_? I'm particularly interested in what they use for the geographical maps they print, but i'd love to know all the information you can provide.

Why does the font change?

provolot — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:34:58 -0800

Why do letters in the same font/typeface vary slightly in a printed book? I've noticed that when reading some books, especially those printed before the last decade, the weight or shape of each character will suddenly change, very subtly, within a book. (The Signet Classic Shakespeare texts will do this often.) Usually these changes seem to be in units of pages -- that is, uniform within a page, different on the next one. Sometimes it even appears as though the spaces between lines are different. Note that the fonts/typefaces are the same, just with slightly imperceptible changes such as a slightly smaller aperture, et cetera. Why is this so?

This Funny-Money Isn't That Funny

evariste — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 12:16:06 -0800

FontFilter: what's the font in which the word "Gutschein" is written on this concentration camp money? It's so...inappropriately...jaunty, I guess?