My love affair with typography started when I purchased my very first computer – a trusty Mac Classic with a tiny black & white screen, and a tinier hard drive. I absolutely loved opening a magazine and finding a floppy disk loaded free fonts, freeware and shareware. Many of the fonts I discovered this way were often useless and hideous, but still so fresh and cool that I just had to try them out.
I quickly learned that every designer has that one go-to font – you understand that there are literally millions of fonts you can choose from, but there’s always one font that’s just perfect for almost every project you tackle. I used to spend hours leafing through a font book trying to find the perfect sans serif font, but always ended up choosing one of a handful of favourites.
My current favourite font is Gibson, designed by Rod McDonald and produced by Patrick Griffin and Kevin King of Canada Type. It’s curves are sexy and it’s weights varied enough to make it useful damn near anywhere.
Before that I was clinically obsessed with Frutiger, it’s simplicity and versatility made it the perfect font solution for a laundry list of projects, including my first company’s corporate identity.
But before that it was all about Futura. Sleek, simple, beautiful and historic Futura. I can’t think of any other font that’s so elegant and beautiful that it literally fits in anywhere. Found in countless logo designs, movie titles and even the commemorative plaque left on the moon by Apollo 11 in 1969, Futura is literally everywhere.
If you’re interested in font history, or just love a good story, check out this fantastic video created by Vox. It talks about the history of Futura, how it was co-opted by the Nazi’s and how it lived to tell the tale. It’s a must view for any font fanatic or graphic designer with even the smallest interest in typography.
So what’s your current go-to font?
