Originally published at: Ice-T shares his unfiltered opinion on typography | Boing Boing
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Darn, gotta change how my degree is spelled now. 
Still, I’d bet he never uses that font again.
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I get why it’s important to legibility, but I think people pile heaps of undue reverence on typography. It’s better than audiophiles’ obsession on imaginary quality, but c’mon, they are just a bunch of letters, not a marker of your moral bearing.
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On the other hand, Ice Cube celebrates good design
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It’s much like policing people’s grammar. If the message can be understood by the receiver, what’s the problem? Just another way to signal your privileged status.
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People with BFAs:
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Fonts, maybe. But what does he think about typefaces?
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“Fucking typography, how does that work?” -ICP (probably)
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Typography is sometimes called “the invisible art” because when it’s done well you don’t consciously think about it at all, but when it’s done badly it distracts from the message being conveyed instead of enhancing it. For example, there’s a reason most stop signs don’t look like this:
Sure, buddy. And how would you have reacted if someone had pitched this album cover back in 1987?
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exactly. as a designer, it’s one of the things i get paid to know about and do. i’m willing to bet he cares plenty about the money his albums make when there’s an attractive, well-designed cover helping sell them.
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As a person who’se job at one time involved careful selection of and comparing fonts (yay contract web design and teaching web accessibility guidelines!), I can say that Ice-T’s opinion is in fact absolutely correct, and refreshing to hear.
Seriously, as long as you can easily tell the difference between the various letters, for general communications font selection does not matter. The only time it’s an issue is when you can’t tell if that sign says “Stop” or “Fart” - and I’ve seen fonts bad enough that you couldn’t.
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The idea that typeface selection does not have an important impact on the way a written message is perceived just seems so bananas to me, especially coming from someone who claims to have had experience in graphic design.
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Don’t shoot the messenger…shoot the font?
I miss Wondermark. Hope it’s back soon.
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When the difference being discussed is because someone got offended at a quick meme-post being in comic sans instead of their personal favourite font, it is absolutely of zero importance. People complaining and whining about not having perfection for something that was spammed off with barely any thought are the ones who are bananas. Agonise over things that are important - corporate logos and letterhead? Sure. You need to verify licensing as well as legibility and branding. Most communications, including email, typed up letters to a potential employer, and whatnot? Use the default font that is already showing up in your editor. It will work fine. Give zero shits. Save them for something that matters.
Memeposting? Just make it readable, and who cares? (Obviously font-trollies will complain, but they don’t matter either.)
Also I know someone who used fonts like those on their wedding invitations, and they were fully appropriate to the occasion. Also, as Ice-T would have said, they were weirdos. Happy and proud weirdos, but still definitely weird.
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