Hacker News Reader

Comment by krstffr | Hacker News Reader

Dalton Maag probably had a pretty good 2018 so far: https://twitter.com/kodform/status/996447044100386816?s=21

Yep. Those look almost identical.

Look again: a, f are pretty different, proportions differ all over (see O), and the author of the tweet clearly hid the tapered & much wider aperture of the Airbnbs e behind the image.

Type design is a subtle thing - they are clearly similar, but definitely not identical

I did notice the subtle differences there and certainly agree. In particular the angular terminals. That's why I said "almost". I'd never dismiss those differences, but do those subtle differences align with a goal of distinct identity? Identity feels like more of a higher level observation. For example, if you had two white hats with black text on them in each typeface, you probably wouldn't be able to identify at a glance which company they came from.

I mean, you could say the same about Lufthansa and (formerly) American's use of Helvetica. But no one would accuse them of having the same corporate identity.

I think the big difference here is how much the typeface itself is touted as being being new or distinct from others as a foundation for their style going forward. Perhaps that's just the impression though. For the airlines' use of Helvetica, that design choice was deliberate. How unique the choice was from others wasn't the main thing going on.

I'm not sure I've effectively communicated that thought. Seems tricky to convey. Again, it seems like maybe I'm getting an impression that isn't intentional.

> the author of the tweet clearly hid the tapered & much wider aperture of the Airbnbs e behind the image

Good catch. They obscured the most noticeable difference. Pretty cheeky.

And unnecessary. To the casual observer Netflix and Airbnb have the same new font.

That image comes straight from their own announcement: https://airbnb.design/introducing-airbnb-cereal/

Type design is a subtle thing is such a wrong statement. Type design is everything - big and small things. This is why it takes a long time to design a timeless font because the search domain is insanely massive.

Let's be honest here, Netflix Sans and Airbnb Cereal are pretty much identical except for the grotesk details.

I was curious if you used the word "grotesk" as a technical term in type design, like how "gothic" (apparently) has typographic meaning. I looked it up, and learned that "grotesque" is a class/category of sans-serif fonts.

Re-reading your last sentence, you probably meant in a general way, as in "grotesque: characterized by ludicrous or incongruous distortion; outlandish or bizarre".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif#Classification

Edit: Oh, here's a great comment from someone who worked on the font, with a mention of "Grotesque" san-serif.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17075836#17080855

I meant it in a typographical sense.

It's hard being one of a kind when all everyone wants is Helvetica, but not exactly.

Seriously. Just use Helvetica Nueue.

It's perfect.

Neue? I guess the only flaw of that font is its spelling. ;)

That's a bold move.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com