Analyzing the typeface trends of gentrification

[thomdunn]

Originally published at: Analyzing the typeface trends of gentrification | Boing Boing

…

[sethgodin]

Like so many online articles that start with ‘Why’ or ‘How’, this Guardian article explains neither. It simply reports what is.

Which is fine, except for the current clickbait promise of analysis.

How did this font get picked instead of a different one? My hunch is that an Amazon seller offered some at a good price, and a few HG style TV shows used it…

Here’s an actually good ‘how’ and ‘why’ story on a similar topic: McMansion Hell: The Devil is in the Details - 99% Invisible

[Aloisius]

The font was a rather big success right after it was commissioned from the metal architectural letters/numbers on Richard Neutra’s modernist buildings for people tired of Helvetica. It got acclaim from bunch of typography and design mags really early on. Within a year of release, every Kinko’s was using the font on little signs. It got picked up by Chibani, Shake Shack, Bond movies and a million other products. Hell, the JavaScript logo is Neutraface.

The foundry itself decided to sell house numbers with the font and architects started using it. Then DWR started selling them.

Anyway, by the time it became the “gentrification” font (more like the font of modernish developments period, gentrification or not), it was all over the place. People doing remodels were just following the trend.

[jerwin]

Also-- the number of typefaces far exceeds the number of typefaces used for prefabricated house numbers. Probably will stay that way unless 3d sinterization goes mainstream

[carlcrossgrove]

The real why is the simplest: The guys from House Industries are genius cross-promoters, and they often find ways to use their typefaces in other products. Choosing to make house numbers with Neutraface at that particular time meant there were widely-available house numbers in a fresh, new style for the first time in decades. Ever shopped for house numbers at the hardware store? Along with the surge in popularity of Mid-century Modern, renovations and updates to modern homes would almost inevitably end up with this style. Right place, right time.

[nixiebunny]

I just call it Architect Address Number Font. Because its presence on a house means that an architect was paid to do something, even if it was only to specify the address number font.

[ficuswhisperer]

McMansion Hell is an amazing blog, and Kate Wagner is a national treasure. I’d love for her to be a guest author for BB.

[euansmith]

At least they aren’t using Papyrus.

[Doctor_Faustus]

I once came across the only legitimate use for Papyrus: for the logo of the 30th International Congress of Papyrology

[FGD135]

There are no bad fonts as such…
But there are a lot of bad, if not terrible, ways to (mis)use fonts.
Also, idiots.

[spetrovits]

As someone who likes the appearance and readability of this typeface, it never occurred to me that it would be a bad thing. Trying to discern the tiny, ugly numbers on an original 1970’s split-level in the dark is maddening. As for gentrification, I feel like the word gets overused, referring these days to absolutely any replacement of old buildings with new, but as someone who is not affected at all by actual gentrification, I’ll defer to those that are.

[beschizza]

I want this comment but it’s a deepfake version of the Devil Wears Prada scene where Wintour explains Neutraface to the dismissive intern

[xkot]

I agree with you and Aloisius. My wife and I are in the midst of a mid-mod kick, and recently redesigned our mailbox (the kind that is attached to a post next to our suburban street). We had a difficult time finding a cool mid-century font for the numbers. We finally found an Etsy seller in the UK making nice metal letters that greatly resemble Neutraface. As with any era in design, there are only so many options out there to choose from – hence why everyone in the '70s had an avocado or goldenrod refrigerator.

[timd]

House Industries were always great at marketing. Chalet leaps to mind with its decades cuts and silhouettes. Somewhere I have a purple flock-covered, gold foil blocked catalogue that must have cost a fortune to produce.