https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22399161 2 years ago, 57 comments
Anyway, I wanted to ask: Why is it ugly? What about it is? I found it beautiful and much better looking than most fonts I see on the web nowadays.
Anyway, I wanted to ask: Why is it ugly? What about it is? I found it beautiful and much better looking than most fonts I see on the web nowadays.
Also, the 'a' and 't' look like the kindergarten versions instead of the more usual two-story 'a' and 't' with some sort of curve at the bottom.
Most of this is almost certainly driven by the context this typeface was designed for. The simple shapes probably come from usability considerations for the lettering machine: the user had to trace each stroke in the template by hand. The uniform stroke weight and rounded ends come from how the engraving tool worked: basically a drill bit you drag sideways.
The curves are probably that way because there was a fashion for "modern" shapes a while back, which meant roughly "describable with a simple formula and few parameters"
We're accustomed to typefaces that were designed for use in movable type, where variable stroke weights and end shapes are basically free.
I also do enjoy the rounded ends.
Personally I think it resembles VAG Round a lot, which is a font fairly common in Germany (possibly because it was designed for Volkswagen)
(Also, Comic Sans fits the definitions of both script fonts and grotesque fonts, so it is probably extremely subjective which bucket you prefer to define it.)
It is a historic term and any interpretation were you call CS grotesk would be suspect.
I also subjectively think many of the grotesque fonts are quite pretty, and I like Comic Sans too, but if you are asking why people think they are "ugly", one of the reasons is "subconscious cultural bias" and the "language lesson" was pointing out deep evidence of that (at least in English speaking cultures).
"Look at that gorgeous grotesque" is a perfectly decent sentence for a designer to say.
https://jalopnik.com/see-if-you-can-spot-the-vw-connection-i...
similar idea and discussion from RoughViz: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21648968
I'm curious why it's associated with blueprints, but I have no insight into the history of applying type to blueprints.
EDIT: to answer my own question, it has to do with the scribing device used for Leroy letters. One of which was used to source this font. Nice description of how it was used here https://kleinletters.com/Blog/leroy-lettering-by-jim-and-mar...