WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.599 --> 00:00:03.540 some of them are formal others playful 00:00:03.540 --> 00:00:06.660 some are scary ironic important Timeless 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:09.540 trans weird wonderful and some of them 00:00:09.540 --> 00:00:11.280 should not be used as subtitles for 00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:20.279 Avatar 00:00:20.279 --> 00:00:24.119 this is the story of fox but it's also 00:00:24.119 --> 00:00:26.340 the story of civilization creativity 00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:29.039 Innovation power Obsession War love and 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:31.679 human connection okay I can hear it in 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.180 my voice and if right now you're 00:00:33.180 --> 00:00:35.579 thinking dude that sounds like way too 00:00:35.579 --> 00:00:38.160 much to derive from jokerman don't worry 00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:40.860 because before I made this doco 00:00:40.860 --> 00:00:43.140 that's what I thought too also just want 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:44.760 to say a big thanks to Shopify for 00:00:44.760 --> 00:00:46.559 sponsoring this video more on them later 00:00:46.559 --> 00:00:48.059 though for now 00:00:48.059 --> 00:00:50.539 let's get weird 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:52.739 so this video started because I asked 00:00:52.739 --> 00:00:54.480 myself a pretty simple question I was 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:55.739 looking at the fonts on my computer and 00:00:55.739 --> 00:00:57.600 I just thought where do all of these 00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:59.460 fonts come from I thought the answer 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:00.780 would be simple I thought it was just 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:01.980 people designing stuff for word 00:01:01.980 --> 00:01:04.739 processors I pulled that thread and it 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:06.420 was long before computers so I was 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:07.740 thinking yeah maybe it starts at the 00:01:07.740 --> 00:01:10.560 printing press but then I was like well 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:12.360 how do we have all those symbols how do 00:01:12.360 --> 00:01:13.680 we know what to put in the printing 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:15.659 press so then I pulled that thread then 00:01:15.659 --> 00:01:17.100 I pulled another thread then I pulled 00:01:17.100 --> 00:01:19.080 another thread and you know what let's 00:01:19.080 --> 00:01:21.540 just say we have to go back like 00:01:21.540 --> 00:01:24.860 way back 00:01:24.860 --> 00:01:27.479 our story starts ten thousand years ago 00:01:27.479 --> 00:01:30.420 in ancient Mesopotamia 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:32.040 yup we're starting at the start 00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:33.780 basically imagine you're a guy you got 00:01:33.780 --> 00:01:35.579 some goats they've got some chickens but 00:01:35.579 --> 00:01:37.860 really what you want is oil because you 00:01:37.860 --> 00:01:39.420 can't make a trade immediately you need 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:41.220 something that represents chicken goats 00:01:41.220 --> 00:01:42.780 wheat oil all of the stuff that you 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:44.280 would be trading and so the ancient 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:46.079 Mesopotamians made something called clay 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:48.720 boulay basically big clay symbols that 00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:50.340 would represent various things they had 00:01:50.340 --> 00:01:52.259 them in about 16 categories so imagine 00:01:52.259 --> 00:01:53.939 you've got a ghost stone or a grain 00:01:53.939 --> 00:01:55.619 stone or an oil Stone now the reason 00:01:55.619 --> 00:01:57.360 that this is important to our story is 00:01:57.360 --> 00:01:59.159 because of the mechanic that is going on 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:01.619 here things are being represented by the 00:02:01.619 --> 00:02:03.960 image of things instead of chickens you 00:02:03.960 --> 00:02:06.060 have a clay rock that says chickens and 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:07.380 this idea of representing things with 00:02:07.380 --> 00:02:09.360 symbols would go on to form the basis of 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:11.879 cuneiform 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:14.220 this is an actual fish this is a 00:02:14.220 --> 00:02:15.900 pictogram of a fish this is that 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:17.940 pictogram sideways here's it abstracted 00:02:17.940 --> 00:02:19.739 and this right here is cuneiform for 00:02:19.739 --> 00:02:22.080 fish graphic symbols depicting things 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:23.879 cuneiform is some of the earliest forms 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:25.739 we have of a formal written language in 00:02:25.739 --> 00:02:27.120 terms of font property is one thing that 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:28.620 we can note here is that cuneiform was 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:30.300 often read left to right and the leading 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:31.500 thesis is that more people were 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:33.060 right-handed so they wouldn't smudge the 00:02:33.060 --> 00:02:34.620 clay that they were carving in as they 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:36.599 wrote it's kind of cool but what is also 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:38.160 very cool is that cuneiform would 00:02:38.160 --> 00:02:39.599 eventually become one of the most famous 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.060 ancient alphabets the hieroglyphics of 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:43.620 ancient Egypt so at this point in the 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:45.060 video you might be thinking cool man but 00:02:45.060 --> 00:02:46.260 what does this all have to do with the 00:02:46.260 --> 00:02:49.440 fonts of my computer well let me get 00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:50.819 there so time ticks on various 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:52.200 civilizations rise and fall and we've 00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:53.580 got all of these cool little examples of 00:02:53.580 --> 00:02:55.260 alphabets popping up in various forms of 00:02:55.260 --> 00:02:57.060 writing coming across the globe but our 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:59.220 next stop in this History tour comes in 00:02:59.220 --> 00:03:01.379 ancient Greece 00:03:01.379 --> 00:03:03.720 foreign what the Phoenicians did is they 00:03:03.720 --> 00:03:04.980 took a good look at the hieroglyphics 00:03:04.980 --> 00:03:08.040 now like yeah love that but what if we 00:03:08.040 --> 00:03:09.900 made the symbols even more abstract and 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:11.580 what if we atomized their value so that 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:13.080 they can form larger words as opposed to 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:15.239 just being symbols these 22 letters 00:03:15.239 --> 00:03:17.220 these symbols carved into stone are 00:03:17.220 --> 00:03:19.440 called Greek lapidary letters it's an 00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:20.879 amazing Innovation because you could 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:22.379 write so many things and these Stone 00:03:22.379 --> 00:03:24.120 carvings right here are among the first 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:26.519 formal use of Western letter forms now 00:03:26.519 --> 00:03:27.780 there were a couple of problems with 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:29.580 this early alphabet from the Greeks they 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:31.140 only had uppercase and while it was 00:03:31.140 --> 00:03:32.760 written in rows the way that you would 00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:34.019 read it would change sometimes you'd 00:03:34.019 --> 00:03:35.519 read left to right other times right to 00:03:35.519 --> 00:03:37.260 left this is a format known as 00:03:37.260 --> 00:03:39.360 bustrefadon or as the Greeks called it 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:42.060 as the ox plows one second this way one 00:03:42.060 --> 00:03:43.560 second that way you just wait till they 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:45.180 hear about palindromes do nine men 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:47.580 interpret nine men I nod 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:50.280 oh sure but yeah basically there's a 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:51.840 couple of Kinks to be ironed out enter 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:55.680 the Romans yeah welcome to Rome ancient 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:57.299 Rome took those Greek lapidary letters 00:03:57.299 --> 00:03:58.379 and they turned them into their own 00:03:58.379 --> 00:04:00.299 alphabet the Roman alphabet the Latin 00:04:00.299 --> 00:04:01.439 alphabet the one that we still kind of 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:02.879 use today no at this point in the story 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:04.500 I've mostly been talking about alphabets 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:06.420 but the Romans also did something in 00:04:06.420 --> 00:04:07.799 terms of font when they had their 00:04:07.799 --> 00:04:09.120 characters written out they gave them 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.519 little hats and little feet these hats 00:04:11.519 --> 00:04:14.190 and feet are what we call seraphs 00:04:14.190 --> 00:04:19.440 [Music] 00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:22.019 or on that later for now let's talk 00:04:22.019 --> 00:04:24.800 about mass production 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:27.479 like with so many inventions as the old 00:04:27.479 --> 00:04:28.860 phrase goes there's always something 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:30.479 pretty cool going on in gymnastic China 00:04:30.479 --> 00:04:32.340 what you're looking at right here is a 00:04:32.340 --> 00:04:34.080 movable type system it was invented in 00:04:34.080 --> 00:04:36.000 the 11th century in the song dynasty in 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:38.400 China by bishan it was a typing machine 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:39.960 that was made from ceramics that allowed 00:04:39.960 --> 00:04:42.300 the user to reprint words onto clay it 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:43.380 saved them time and meant that you can 00:04:43.380 --> 00:04:44.880 Mass produce messaging over the next 00:04:44.880 --> 00:04:46.139 four centuries there were certain 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:47.880 Innovations made to this mostly using 00:04:47.880 --> 00:04:49.680 materials the earliest metal ones that 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.020 we've seen are from Korea in 12 30 but 00:04:52.020 --> 00:04:53.580 the machine that really got things going 00:04:53.580 --> 00:04:55.680 as you guessed it was the printing press 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:58.320 the year is 1440 and a Goldsmith named 00:04:58.320 --> 00:04:59.940 Johannes Gutenberg invents this 00:04:59.940 --> 00:05:01.680 contraption right here this printing 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:02.940 press was a machine that could Mass 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:04.560 produce lettering the way it worked was 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:05.759 you'd have these letters that you'd put 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:07.139 into a machine and they would almost act 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:08.940 like a stamp on the paper and then that 00:05:08.940 --> 00:05:10.440 paper could go off and form books but 00:05:10.440 --> 00:05:12.600 books were around before 14 40 I hear 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.460 you say yeah that is true but those 00:05:14.460 --> 00:05:16.259 books just weren't printed they were 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:18.300 actually written by hand imagine writing 00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:20.280 a Bible by hand in fact this is a task 00:05:20.280 --> 00:05:22.080 that was done by monks and when they did 00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:23.460 write those Bibles by hand they would 00:05:23.460 --> 00:05:25.020 use a calligraphy style which we now 00:05:25.020 --> 00:05:26.400 know as black letter and because that 00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:28.259 was gutenberg's reference for books his 00:05:28.259 --> 00:05:30.660 printing press's first ever font was a 00:05:30.660 --> 00:05:32.400 black letter font a grandchild of this 00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:34.380 might be like the old English font you 00:05:34.380 --> 00:05:35.580 know the one that people get like their 00:05:35.580 --> 00:05:37.620 birth years tattooed on them with that 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:39.240 in any case what you are looking at 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:40.979 right here is the first ever printed 00:05:40.979 --> 00:05:43.199 book the Gutenberg Bible with the first 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:45.360 ever printed Roman typeface 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:47.580 black letter 00:05:47.580 --> 00:05:49.199 so I've got the printing press going on 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:51.419 and it has its one typeface but 30 years 00:05:51.419 --> 00:05:53.699 later we get a new innovation a fella 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:55.380 called Nicholas Jensen comes along and 00:05:55.380 --> 00:05:57.479 he's like man I don't reckon that black 00:05:57.479 --> 00:05:58.800 letter stuff I I just don't think it's 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:00.900 that legible what if we changed it he 00:06:00.900 --> 00:06:02.400 was inspired by some of the cleaner 00:06:02.400 --> 00:06:03.900 letters the served letters from the 00:06:03.900 --> 00:06:05.819 ancient Romans and so he created what he 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:08.100 called a Roman typeface this less 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:10.080 cluttered more legible style was 00:06:10.080 --> 00:06:12.120 naturally an immediate hit in fact it's 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:13.740 still kind of a hit today open up a 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:15.120 random book in your bookshelf and you'll 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:17.220 probably see a Roman type phone now as 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:19.259 you can imagine once this new font drops 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:20.880 all of these other designers and 00:06:20.880 --> 00:06:22.080 innovators they also want to put their 00:06:22.080 --> 00:06:23.580 mark on History they want to contribute 00:06:23.580 --> 00:06:25.440 and what we start to see is a rise in 00:06:25.440 --> 00:06:27.780 foundries all over Europe places whose 00:06:27.780 --> 00:06:29.639 job it was to make typefaces the 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:31.139 humanist spirit that was driving the 00:06:31.139 --> 00:06:33.060 Italian Renaissance also came with its 00:06:33.060 --> 00:06:35.160 own style of writing curse of a 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.139 humanistica the thing that paved the way 00:06:37.139 --> 00:06:39.720 for italics so meanwhile right in 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:41.699 mid-century 16 France there's this other 00:06:41.699 --> 00:06:43.259 fella this designer called Claude 00:06:43.259 --> 00:06:46.199 garamond who kept writing like this this 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:47.460 Elegant Style was so Revolution 00:06:47.460 --> 00:06:48.900 missionary that we still actually use 00:06:48.900 --> 00:06:51.599 his font to this day garamond great work 00:06:51.599 --> 00:06:53.400 Claude so over the next few centuries we 00:06:53.400 --> 00:06:54.780 see designers like Fleischmann 00:06:54.780 --> 00:06:56.880 Baskerville buttoni but all of these 00:06:56.880 --> 00:06:59.039 designers had one thing in common while 00:06:59.039 --> 00:07:00.840 their fonts were amazing and Brilliant 00:07:00.840 --> 00:07:02.580 they were still riffing on a familiar 00:07:02.580 --> 00:07:03.539 theme 00:07:03.539 --> 00:07:05.940 serifs it's a variation on the same font 00:07:05.940 --> 00:07:07.440 that the Romans were using almost two 00:07:07.440 --> 00:07:10.259 Millennia prior but what about something 00:07:10.259 --> 00:07:10.870 simpler 00:07:10.870 --> 00:07:12.720 [Music] 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:15.900 Sans without serif serif they didn't 00:07:15.900 --> 00:07:18.000 have seraphs also known as grotesque now 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:20.280 Sans serif was actually used but it 00:07:20.280 --> 00:07:21.539 didn't enter the printing game until 00:07:21.539 --> 00:07:23.580 1816 and this is partially just because 00:07:23.580 --> 00:07:25.080 people didn't see it as formal enough to 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:26.699 Warrant its own typeface in a printing 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:28.560 press until this guy enters William 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:30.960 Carlson IV what up what you're looking 00:07:30.960 --> 00:07:33.300 at here is Carlson Egyptian the first 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:35.340 known sans-serif typeface 00:07:35.340 --> 00:07:37.440 pretty cool I actually really like it so 00:07:37.440 --> 00:07:39.120 12 years later right this other did 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:40.680 Vincent Biggins he makes the second ever 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:42.660 Sans serif typeface and as you can see 00:07:42.660 --> 00:07:45.060 they are completely different the first 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:46.379 obvious difference is the line weight 00:07:46.379 --> 00:07:48.780 the figures font is huge which means oh 00:07:48.780 --> 00:07:50.699 yeah it commands attention so in the 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:52.259 1800s we're starting to see the rise of 00:07:52.259 --> 00:07:54.000 advertisements and posters and for these 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:55.440 people making this type of communication 00:07:55.440 --> 00:07:58.800 this Sans serif font was a godsend it 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:00.660 commanded attention it dictated page 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:02.580 hierarchy and of course it was legible 00:08:02.580 --> 00:08:04.680 at a decent distance so all of these 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:06.180 practical uses plus the fact that the 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.220 aesthetic just said new it made Sans 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:09.900 serif get pretty popular pretty damn 00:08:09.900 --> 00:08:11.759 quick we all know Mook of the artist but 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:13.199 let's talk about Mook of the typographer 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.120 this is from an era known as Art Nouveau 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:17.280 which translates in French to literally 00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:19.139 new art stylistically it had a lot of 00:08:19.139 --> 00:08:20.699 organic elements and lots of plants in 00:08:20.699 --> 00:08:22.319 nature which would contrast with big 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:24.720 harsh lines and all of the typefaces 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:25.860 that came along with it naturally 00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:28.020 followed suit the mix of ornate gooey 00:08:28.020 --> 00:08:30.000 lines with straight harsh lines was just 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.919 perfect for the Latin alphabet and as 00:08:31.919 --> 00:08:33.959 for the impact of Art Nouveau it sent a 00:08:33.959 --> 00:08:35.279 message to designers all around the 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.440 world you can morph the letters more 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:39.000 than you think and they will still be 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:40.860 legible after years and years of 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:42.479 focusing so heavily on the function of 00:08:42.479 --> 00:08:44.519 typography we now put form in the 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:46.740 spotlight and naturally some people used 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:51.720 form as a 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:54.180 q marinetti and his futuristic criticism 00:08:54.180 --> 00:08:56.160 of English traditions of course written 00:08:56.160 --> 00:08:58.260 in chunky Sans serif type this designer 00:08:58.260 --> 00:08:59.580 Marinette in this letter he calls out 00:08:59.580 --> 00:09:01.260 basically all of the old British stuff 00:09:01.260 --> 00:09:03.360 and he calls it the cream of snobbish 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.640 earth typographically that snobbery 00:09:05.640 --> 00:09:07.080 could be seen in a new font that had 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:09.420 just hit the streets in 1931 in Britain 00:09:09.420 --> 00:09:10.860 there was this paper the times that 00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:12.000 commissioned a guy called Stanley 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.800 Morrison to create their new body copy 00:09:13.800 --> 00:09:16.019 typeface and he was like well I guess 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:17.640 I'll base it on maybe like those old 00:09:17.640 --> 00:09:19.740 Roman letters that Clarity and it's for 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:21.839 the times you know what I'm gonna call 00:09:21.839 --> 00:09:24.720 it Times New Roman oh yeah little did he 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:25.800 know that he was going to create one of 00:09:25.800 --> 00:09:27.120 the most popular fonts of all time 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.940 Bonkers now back to marinetti in that 00:09:29.940 --> 00:09:31.560 letter right so this all comes at the 00:09:31.560 --> 00:09:33.360 dawn of the first world war which as you 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.040 can imagine plays a major role in our 00:09:35.040 --> 00:09:36.839 story so during the war you've got all 00:09:36.839 --> 00:09:38.399 these futurists and artists and creative 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:40.380 people who all need a safe haven and 00:09:40.380 --> 00:09:41.760 quite a lot of them end up fleeing to 00:09:41.760 --> 00:09:43.920 Zurich now in Zurich you've got all 00:09:43.920 --> 00:09:45.240 these diverse backgrounds various 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:46.560 influences you've got all these bright 00:09:46.560 --> 00:09:48.360 people but you've also got this backdrop 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:49.920 of chaos the world around them is 00:09:49.920 --> 00:09:52.620 falling to pieces so naturally this 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:55.680 breeds a new movement dadaism 00:09:55.680 --> 00:09:57.959 this is a data's typographic poster by 00:09:57.959 --> 00:10:00.120 Ilyas adanovic notice the combination of 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:02.579 seraphs sans serifs and dingbats what a 00:10:02.579 --> 00:10:04.500 dingbats you ask so do you remember the 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:05.760 whole printing press thing basically 00:10:05.760 --> 00:10:07.079 when they would make Pages they might 00:10:07.079 --> 00:10:08.700 put these like ornate symbols and stuff 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:09.899 at the top and the bottom and they were 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:12.060 their own stamps dingbats so if that's 00:10:12.060 --> 00:10:13.380 the great grandfather the great 00:10:13.380 --> 00:10:15.480 grandchild is wingdings but we'll get 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:17.220 there later for now for the dardests 00:10:17.220 --> 00:10:19.200 they're symbols why symbols there's a 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:20.579 pretty good Marcel Duchamp quote that 00:10:20.579 --> 00:10:22.380 kind of sums it up the only thing worse 00:10:22.380 --> 00:10:24.360 than a syrup typeface is a sans-serif 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:26.220 typeface this was the attitude and it 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:27.540 led to quite a lot of people doing 00:10:27.540 --> 00:10:29.220 things like using punctuation instead of 00:10:29.220 --> 00:10:30.779 letters as well as other people just 00:10:30.779 --> 00:10:32.399 generally criticizing the limitations of 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.140 the Roman alphabet now meanwhile a 00:10:34.140 --> 00:10:35.279 couple of borders East right we've got 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:36.660 some pretty cool stuff going on we have 00:10:36.660 --> 00:10:38.820 the Russian typographic Revolution 00:10:38.820 --> 00:10:40.620 artists like vivara stepping over 00:10:40.620 --> 00:10:42.720 ushering constructivist designs this 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:44.880 meant big harsh geometry quite a lot of 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:46.620 symmetry and harsh blocky fonts that 00:10:46.620 --> 00:10:48.360 were conform to both it as well as the 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:50.160 page complimenting stepanova was 00:10:50.160 --> 00:10:52.380 Alexander rodchenko his ability to blend 00:10:52.380 --> 00:10:54.180 graphics and shapes and text it was just 00:10:54.180 --> 00:10:56.220 honestly Flawless while I know the roots 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:58.260 of modern graphic design are debatable I 00:10:58.260 --> 00:11:00.300 always feel like rochenko and stepanova 00:11:00.300 --> 00:11:02.160 should get just a little bit more credit 00:11:02.160 --> 00:11:04.019 just a little bit more you know 00:11:04.019 --> 00:11:06.180 so with all of these different 00:11:06.180 --> 00:11:09.000 Aesthetics going on was there a golden 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.579 standard was there a unified way where 00:11:11.579 --> 00:11:13.440 everybody agreed that this was the way 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.180 that we should write a letter 00:11:15.180 --> 00:11:16.980 well those were the questions that were 00:11:16.980 --> 00:11:18.839 asked by pioneers of the Bauhaus 00:11:18.839 --> 00:11:20.940 movement they sought to create a uniform 00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:22.860 perfect aesthetic which of course came 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:25.320 with a uniform Perfect typeface Cue this 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:29.040 guy Herbert Bayer in 1925 he set out to 00:11:29.040 --> 00:11:30.959 create the universal typeface a 00:11:30.959 --> 00:11:33.120 geometric alphabet based only on bars 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:34.800 and circles so this Herbert guy he's got 00:11:34.800 --> 00:11:36.420 this idea which was basically as we 00:11:36.420 --> 00:11:38.160 progress into a society that uses more 00:11:38.160 --> 00:11:39.899 and more technology we would need a 00:11:39.899 --> 00:11:41.399 universally accepted way to communicate 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:42.959 letters in the most efficient mouth the 00:11:42.959 --> 00:11:44.579 great grandchild of Bayer's dream font 00:11:44.579 --> 00:11:46.260 can still be found today on computers 00:11:46.260 --> 00:11:47.519 everywhere and it's simply called 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:50.100 Bauhaus what I love about this movement 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:51.839 is that within it is a genuine hope for 00:11:51.839 --> 00:11:54.300 Utopia but sadly Utopia didn't happen 00:11:54.300 --> 00:11:56.760 World War II did after the second world 00:11:56.760 --> 00:11:58.680 war thanks to constructivism and Bauhaus 00:11:58.680 --> 00:12:00.360 we start to get a rise of a new style 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:02.940 this sort of Swiss modernism the key 00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:04.620 feature of modernism is that it is 00:12:04.620 --> 00:12:07.440 without ornament No Frills you can see 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:09.420 it best in a font like helvetica now 00:12:09.420 --> 00:12:10.740 because this Swiss style was just 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:12.480 embracing modernism what it meant is 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:14.160 that there were no ties to the old world 00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:15.959 which also meant that there were no ties 00:12:15.959 --> 00:12:17.700 to that huge tragedy that just happened 00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:20.279 the second world war but it was actually 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.019 quite well understood across the globe 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.180 because of this the Swiss style is also 00:12:24.180 --> 00:12:25.519 sometimes known as the international 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.019 typographic style for a minute there was 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:29.399 this glimmer of hope that this 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:31.260 International Swiss style would unite 00:12:31.260 --> 00:12:33.300 people into that Utopia that bauhauser 00:12:33.300 --> 00:12:36.180 dreamed of but ironically one of the 00:12:36.180 --> 00:12:37.680 biggest adopters of the international 00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:40.680 style was the American corporation TV 00:12:40.680 --> 00:12:42.720 shows record companies and advertisers 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:44.820 all embraced it wholeheartedly and you 00:12:44.820 --> 00:12:46.560 can see it so much in the pop culture 00:12:46.560 --> 00:12:48.180 from that era this isn't to say it was 00:12:48.180 --> 00:12:50.040 bad it was amazing from the 50s and the 00:12:50.040 --> 00:12:52.079 60s we get these cool grotesque letters 00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:54.120 mid-century letters that droopy kind of 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:55.500 hippie font that sort of looks a bit Art 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:57.600 Nouveau this Art Deco Revival Western 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:00.180 slab serif even cool sci-fi stuff it was 00:13:00.180 --> 00:13:02.160 a cool time for graphic design 00:13:02.160 --> 00:13:03.720 which means it's probably about the time 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:07.139 that we bring up Paul Rand 00:13:07.139 --> 00:13:10.200 it is quite hard to properly articulate 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:13.380 just how influential poor Rand is on the 00:13:13.380 --> 00:13:15.180 world of graphic design so I'm just 00:13:15.180 --> 00:13:16.560 going to use a Steve Jobs quote Steve 00:13:16.560 --> 00:13:18.180 Jobs called Paul Rand the greatest 00:13:18.180 --> 00:13:20.339 living graphic designer obviously when 00:13:20.339 --> 00:13:22.260 he was alive rest in peace and looking 00:13:22.260 --> 00:13:23.820 at his work it's not hard to say why 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:25.620 Paul rand's theory was that graphic 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:27.540 design had this amazing ability to be a 00:13:27.540 --> 00:13:29.279 universal language based on Simplicity 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.380 and geometry he just loved it in fact he 00:13:31.380 --> 00:13:32.880 loved it so much that he even changed 00:13:32.880 --> 00:13:34.980 his name it's a sad reason why he did he 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:37.079 had a Jewish name Perez Rosenbaum and he 00:13:37.079 --> 00:13:38.220 angle sized it to be a little bit more 00:13:38.220 --> 00:13:40.139 Madison Avenue friendly but when he did 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:42.060 pick this name he thought four letters 00:13:42.060 --> 00:13:43.440 four letters that'll make a great 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:45.480 graphic symbol he even put graphic 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:48.540 design in his freaking name man wow so 00:13:48.540 --> 00:13:50.459 that's a very brief overview of the 00:13:50.459 --> 00:13:52.019 international style and the gigantic 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:54.120 design boom that it created but as you 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:55.980 can imagine not everybody was on board 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:58.500 with this futuristic dream and they 00:13:58.500 --> 00:14:01.199 really really wanted you to know it the 00:14:01.199 --> 00:14:03.720 font Rebels are back critics of the 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:05.100 international style they felt like all 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:06.899 this clean Flawless modernity it was 00:14:06.899 --> 00:14:09.060 trying to say that life was perfect and 00:14:09.060 --> 00:14:11.339 life just wasn't enter the pop artist of 00:14:11.339 --> 00:14:13.560 the 1960s most notably Andy Warhol 00:14:13.560 --> 00:14:15.180 people who were on a mission to satirize 00:14:15.180 --> 00:14:17.519 modernism in all of its icon heavy Glory 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:19.139 now it's one thing to satirize a 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:21.300 movement but in the 1970s there emerged 00:14:21.300 --> 00:14:22.860 a group of people who wanted to just rub 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:24.899 a bell against it all together 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:27.540 punks remember that guy marinetti who 00:14:27.540 --> 00:14:29.279 called The Old English stuff snobbish 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:30.600 punks were feeling the same about 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:32.579 modernism they felt like they're just I 00:14:32.579 --> 00:14:34.199 don't know lacked Humanity lacked 00:14:34.199 --> 00:14:35.940 realness there were no mistakes what's 00:14:35.940 --> 00:14:37.980 up with that so the puns rebelled and 00:14:37.980 --> 00:14:39.360 typographically we can see it really 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:40.860 clearly through things like scenes and 00:14:40.860 --> 00:14:42.899 album covers these scenes were full of 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:44.639 handwriting typographic errors and 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:46.680 Electro set transfers that broke all the 00:14:46.680 --> 00:14:48.540 rules and while we're on the topic let's 00:14:48.540 --> 00:14:50.699 talk about Jamie Reed he quite literally 00:14:50.699 --> 00:14:53.100 tore apart designs to make new ones and 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:55.139 in doing so he sent a very powerful 00:14:55.139 --> 00:14:57.120 message mainstream culture sucks and 00:14:57.120 --> 00:14:59.579 we're here to destroy it God Save the 00:14:59.579 --> 00:15:01.500 Queen 00:15:01.500 --> 00:15:03.660 all right quick little break to talk 00:15:03.660 --> 00:15:05.279 about this shirt so the first thing you 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.079 might notice is wow what a silly and fun 00:15:07.079 --> 00:15:09.060 font how Whimsical second thing you 00:15:09.060 --> 00:15:10.800 might notice is it says struthless 00:15:10.800 --> 00:15:12.300 that's my freaking channel name because 00:15:12.300 --> 00:15:14.100 that's my freaking shirt baby and where 00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:16.220 do I sell that shirt 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:19.440 Shopify that's right we are going into 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:21.779 today's relevant sponsor all right so 00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:23.100 Shopify if you don't know they're a 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:24.720 compass platform definitely come across 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:26.279 the Shopify website online they power 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:27.899 like millions of businesses and hundreds 00:15:27.899 --> 00:15:29.699 of different countries but what is 00:15:29.699 --> 00:15:31.440 really cool at the moment if you have 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:33.360 been thinking lately damn I wouldn't 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.339 mind starting my own shop you know 00:15:35.339 --> 00:15:36.720 getting creative building a little 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:38.639 something something well Shopify right 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:40.620 now has something called a starter plan 00:15:40.620 --> 00:15:42.480 what this is is you can make your own 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.220 shop literally like within minutes 00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:46.320 without code without products use all 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:49.259 the tools for just five dollars if it 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:50.940 goes great you then have the option to 00:15:50.940 --> 00:15:52.259 upgrade it and turn it into a full store 00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:54.899 if it doesn't hey gave it a shot that's 00:15:54.899 --> 00:15:56.639 pretty cool too if you can if you want 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:58.440 to build a shop for five bucks use this 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:00.360 link which I will put in the description 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.959 and enjoy get ready back to the video 00:16:03.959 --> 00:16:06.660 so what happens next what is next in our 00:16:06.660 --> 00:16:09.680 typographic story 00:16:09.680 --> 00:16:12.899 welcome to the 1980s there was New Wave 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:15.060 radical modernism 8-bit and things that 00:16:15.060 --> 00:16:16.440 were being inspired not by what 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:17.940 technology could do but by the 00:16:17.940 --> 00:16:19.139 constraints that they put on the 00:16:19.139 --> 00:16:21.300 designers and of course the rise of the 00:16:21.300 --> 00:16:22.860 graphic designer getting taken seriously 00:16:22.860 --> 00:16:25.139 as an artist and I think the person who 00:16:25.139 --> 00:16:27.000 probably best embodied this era of 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.040 graphic design and typography was Tebow 00:16:29.040 --> 00:16:31.019 Carmen Carmen had this strong belief 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:32.759 that design was a path to ethical 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:34.560 Justice he was the editor of colors 00:16:34.560 --> 00:16:36.120 magazine which was a magazine dedicated 00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:37.440 to uniting the world and promoting 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:39.420 social good and making actual change he 00:16:39.420 --> 00:16:40.860 would vocally oppose working with 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:42.720 unethical companies and who goes virus 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:44.339 to call out designers who would he was a 00:16:44.339 --> 00:16:46.199 provocateur and a bad boy but ultimately 00:16:46.199 --> 00:16:48.420 he was also a strong moral compass in 00:16:48.420 --> 00:16:50.459 the design landscape I think his legacy 00:16:50.459 --> 00:16:54.000 lies not as much in his work as in who 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.459 he was sure he was a typographer sure he 00:16:56.459 --> 00:16:58.320 was a designer but because he was so 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:00.480 outspoken with his beliefs he made the 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.000 job of graphic design not only known but 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.280 really really cool and this is basically 00:17:05.280 --> 00:17:06.720 around the time that Hollywood and TV 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.039 get on board let's say you've got a 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:09.539 quirky character but you also want to 00:17:09.539 --> 00:17:11.220 give him a professional streak what do 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:13.319 you do I'm a graphic designer I'm a 00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:15.000 graphic designer graphic designer 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.640 graphic design graphic design you're a 00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:19.260 graphic designer you must be really 00:17:19.260 --> 00:17:20.939 artistic and with great graphic design 00:17:20.939 --> 00:17:24.179 comes great typography Uncle Ben Sans so 00:17:24.179 --> 00:17:25.079 you've got all this graphic design 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:26.459 Groundswell and people are getting more 00:17:26.459 --> 00:17:28.439 curious about the profession but the 00:17:28.439 --> 00:17:30.900 thing that made it really take off was a 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:34.160 certain guy in a certain turtleneck 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:37.320 Steve reckon jobs the guy who founded 00:17:37.320 --> 00:17:39.120 Apple the guy who thought Paul Ram was 00:17:39.120 --> 00:17:40.860 so brilliant and the guy who inspired my 00:17:40.860 --> 00:17:43.679 2015 Halloween costume sexy Steve Jobs 00:17:43.679 --> 00:17:45.539 and he was also the guy who yeah says 00:17:45.539 --> 00:17:46.980 the legend goes took a calligraphy class 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:48.179 in college and then a couple of years 00:17:48.179 --> 00:17:49.860 later decided you know what computer 00:17:49.860 --> 00:17:51.360 should have all of those silly words on 00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:52.860 him too he brought fonts to the Apple 00:17:52.860 --> 00:17:54.840 computer to do this he got a designer 00:17:54.840 --> 00:17:56.880 art historian slash all-around genius 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.980 called Susan care she's responsible for 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:00.539 a bunch of fonts named after a bunch of 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:03.600 cities like Chicago Geneva Monaco Los 00:18:03.600 --> 00:18:05.460 Angeles and and she's also the designer 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:07.440 behind the happy Mac symbol what a 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:09.179 resume Steve Jobs gets a lot of credit 00:18:09.179 --> 00:18:10.919 for this font Revolution moment but I 00:18:10.919 --> 00:18:12.240 feel like the designer should too and 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:13.740 Susan care was clearly one of the best 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:16.020 so as you can imagine fonts go on to 00:18:16.020 --> 00:18:18.059 computers and basically this is like a 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:20.340 huge typographic explosion imagine it's 00:18:20.340 --> 00:18:22.020 the late 80s and you're just a casual 00:18:22.020 --> 00:18:23.760 user of your computer and then all of a 00:18:23.760 --> 00:18:26.160 sudden you're like whoa dude I can 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.380 change the writing on this word doc that 00:18:28.380 --> 00:18:30.600 is wild I know it sounds normal to us 00:18:30.600 --> 00:18:32.520 but back then it gave people a lot of 00:18:32.520 --> 00:18:34.380 agency when it came to designing stuff 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:36.120 it really put the Power into their hands 00:18:36.120 --> 00:18:39.299 now I have a bit of a confession I have 00:18:39.299 --> 00:18:41.460 been using the words font and typeface 00:18:41.460 --> 00:18:43.440 relatively interchangeably up until this 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.240 point and that's actually not 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:47.340 technically correct what we know as a 00:18:47.340 --> 00:18:48.539 font like a computer font that's 00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:50.160 actually just called a typeface and a 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:52.080 font technically is the way that you 00:18:52.080 --> 00:18:54.000 alter that typeface so things like line 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:56.340 weight italics boldness even size 00:18:56.340 --> 00:18:58.559 technically aerial size 12 is a 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:00.780 different font to Aerial size 14. now 00:19:00.780 --> 00:19:02.039 the reason that these two words are 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:03.780 confused in our modern day vocabulary is 00:19:03.780 --> 00:19:07.620 because of Stave freaking jobs hey when 00:19:07.620 --> 00:19:09.179 he put them onto his Apple computer he 00:19:09.179 --> 00:19:10.500 was just like you know what let's call 00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:12.179 him fonts and I don't know whether for 00:19:12.179 --> 00:19:13.740 him it was a genuine mistake or whether 00:19:13.740 --> 00:19:15.419 he just liked the word fonson was just 00:19:15.419 --> 00:19:17.640 like screw up their fonts now see y'all 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:19.500 but in any case Steve Jobs is why we 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:21.360 call typefaces fonts but before we 00:19:21.360 --> 00:19:22.799 critique his mistake we also must 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:24.360 remember that putting fonts on personal 00:19:24.360 --> 00:19:25.980 computers was pretty much the biggest 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:27.539 typographic shift since the printing 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:28.260 press 00:19:28.260 --> 00:19:32.220 so what do people do with all this power 00:19:32.220 --> 00:19:34.080 stylistically grunge was pretty much the 00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:35.220 polar opposite of the international 00:19:35.220 --> 00:19:37.740 style this is David Carson he was a 00:19:37.740 --> 00:19:39.360 surfer from California who sprung into 00:19:39.360 --> 00:19:40.620 the spotlight when he was made head 00:19:40.620 --> 00:19:42.600 graphic designer for ray gun magazine 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:44.400 with this alternative publication David 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:47.220 Carson turned graphic design on its head 00:19:47.220 --> 00:19:49.440 Carson saw type in pretty much like the 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.179 least functional way possible he saw 00:19:51.179 --> 00:19:53.640 text as like an image or a texture or a 00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:55.380 decoration there's this one time this is 00:19:55.380 --> 00:19:56.940 like one of those graphic design legends 00:19:56.940 --> 00:19:58.200 that you always hear where basically 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:00.059 raygun magazine had this interview with 00:20:00.059 --> 00:20:02.039 Brian Ferry and Carson and the editors 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:04.020 took one look in their lack dude this 00:20:04.020 --> 00:20:06.000 interview is super boring so Carson's 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:07.500 like I've got an idea how about instead 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:08.700 of printing this in a normal font we 00:20:08.700 --> 00:20:10.620 print the entire interview in Zapf 00:20:10.620 --> 00:20:14.159 dingbats basically windings symbols he 00:20:14.159 --> 00:20:15.900 really didn't care if you could read it 00:20:15.900 --> 00:20:17.760 or not legibility was not at the 00:20:17.760 --> 00:20:19.500 Forefront of his priorities so just like 00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:21.419 Grunge music Carson had his critics as 00:20:21.419 --> 00:20:22.740 well they would say things like ah 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:23.760 you're killing the legibility of 00:20:23.760 --> 00:20:26.100 typography it sucks nobody likes this 00:20:26.100 --> 00:20:28.620 but just like with Grunge music Carson 00:20:28.620 --> 00:20:31.440 doubled down and yeah it worked this 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:33.539 typography this design aesthetic it gets 00:20:33.539 --> 00:20:35.100 cool and then all of a sudden Corporate 00:20:35.100 --> 00:20:37.140 America wants a slice to appeal to the 00:20:37.140 --> 00:20:38.940 youth all they had to do was use a 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:41.039 carson-like aesthetic right how do you 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:42.960 do fellow kids but Carson had a career 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:44.220 to make and he ended up working with a 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:45.539 lot of these people here's a grunge 00:20:45.539 --> 00:20:46.740 piece that was literally made for 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:48.900 Microsoft how cool is that and speaking 00:20:48.900 --> 00:20:50.580 of Microsoft I think it's about time 00:20:50.580 --> 00:20:52.559 that we talk about it the elephant in 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:53.580 the room 00:20:53.580 --> 00:20:55.020 are you ready 00:20:55.020 --> 00:20:58.280 the thing that happened in 1994 00:20:58.280 --> 00:21:00.780 some of you might feel a temptation to 00:21:00.780 --> 00:21:02.580 skip this section some of you might feel 00:21:02.580 --> 00:21:05.340 a temptation to call me out or drag me 00:21:05.340 --> 00:21:07.320 or try to cancel me for saying the words 00:21:07.320 --> 00:21:10.260 that I'm about to say but I promise you 00:21:10.260 --> 00:21:12.480 if you can stomach them we will all be 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.760 better because of it in 1994 Microsoft 00:21:14.760 --> 00:21:16.320 came out with one of the most iconic 00:21:16.320 --> 00:21:18.240 fonts of all time 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:20.820 Comic Sans I don't know he has terrible 00:21:20.820 --> 00:21:22.919 taste in fonts now a lot of us today we 00:21:22.919 --> 00:21:24.539 see Comic Sans as a meme it's sort of 00:21:24.539 --> 00:21:26.159 the fun that it's fun to hate or the fun 00:21:26.159 --> 00:21:27.360 that you know you might use if you're 00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:29.220 trying to convey irony but in 00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:30.900 researching this I found out that the 00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:32.820 impact of Comic Sans is like 00:21:32.820 --> 00:21:34.679 way bigger than I thought so this dude 00:21:34.679 --> 00:21:36.539 here his name is Vincent Conair he made 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:39.299 fonts like trebuchet wild style Magpie 00:21:39.299 --> 00:21:41.220 webdings actually one of his digging 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:42.419 bats from that font would eventually 00:21:42.419 --> 00:21:44.520 become this Emoji side note this is the 00:21:44.520 --> 00:21:46.080 greatest Emoji of all time and yes this 00:21:46.080 --> 00:21:48.240 is a hill I will die on and he also made 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:50.159 this is super random but the Ministry of 00:21:50.159 --> 00:21:53.340 Sound logo and yes Vincent Conair also 00:21:53.340 --> 00:21:55.260 made Comic Sans the story of how it came 00:21:55.260 --> 00:21:57.059 to be was basically it was a solution to 00:21:57.059 --> 00:21:59.039 a problem that I guess a designer would 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:00.659 probably notice before many other people 00:22:00.659 --> 00:22:03.480 there was this dog called Rover who when 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:04.919 you would start up a Microsoft computer 00:22:04.919 --> 00:22:06.780 the dog's job was to guide you through 00:22:06.780 --> 00:22:08.700 how to use the computer bucko and 00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:10.020 basically the dog had these speech 00:22:10.020 --> 00:22:12.900 bubbles but Vincent canare was like man 00:22:12.900 --> 00:22:14.820 sort of not that appropriate for this 00:22:14.820 --> 00:22:16.679 dog to be talking in this Harsh Times 00:22:16.679 --> 00:22:18.659 New Roman you know it's a bit formal for 00:22:18.659 --> 00:22:21.179 a dog woof woofs huh so he was like well 00:22:21.179 --> 00:22:22.620 let's make something a bit more playful 00:22:22.620 --> 00:22:25.020 and he was a fan of comic books like DC 00:22:25.020 --> 00:22:26.820 Watchmen and he's like maybe I can make 00:22:26.820 --> 00:22:28.860 a font sort of based on comic books 00:22:28.860 --> 00:22:30.960 Comic Sans blew up immediately it was 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:32.580 just an instant hit and the reason is 00:22:32.580 --> 00:22:34.500 well let's say you are making a birthday 00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:36.480 invite for a four-year-old hello 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:38.580 children nah we're not going to use the 00:22:38.580 --> 00:22:40.380 Times New Roman it just doesn't work we 00:22:40.380 --> 00:22:41.940 need something that totally suits 00:22:41.940 --> 00:22:44.280 playful or cheerful or whimsical you got 00:22:44.280 --> 00:22:45.900 church Flyers school certificates 00:22:45.900 --> 00:22:47.820 friendly emails birthday cards there 00:22:47.820 --> 00:22:49.200 were so many pieces of writing all 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:50.520 around the world that just didn't 00:22:50.520 --> 00:22:52.740 warrant formality and Comic Sans was the 00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:54.900 missing puzzle piece but of course with 00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:57.179 popularity comes haters maybe you were 00:22:57.179 --> 00:22:58.740 one of them there's lots and lots of 00:22:58.740 --> 00:23:00.780 examples of people inappropriately using 00:23:00.780 --> 00:23:02.580 Comic Sans which is such a strange 00:23:02.580 --> 00:23:04.200 sentence but I'll just give you one 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:06.059 which I think illustrates It Best in 00:23:06.059 --> 00:23:07.740 2012 there was this Dutch World War II 00:23:07.740 --> 00:23:09.240 Memorial that was set up right and you 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:10.860 know what font they chose 00:23:10.860 --> 00:23:12.900 Comic Sans now eventually that would 00:23:12.900 --> 00:23:14.340 scrap it and the people who made it said 00:23:14.340 --> 00:23:16.740 it was for legibility but I think we all 00:23:16.740 --> 00:23:18.600 know why but even in that act it's such 00:23:18.600 --> 00:23:21.120 a strange graphic design question how is 00:23:21.120 --> 00:23:23.340 the way that you write a letter somehow 00:23:23.340 --> 00:23:25.860 inappropriate that's weird right now 00:23:25.860 --> 00:23:27.780 Comic Sans on the more positive end of 00:23:27.780 --> 00:23:29.039 the spectrum actually has a couple of 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:30.720 really cool features that make it quite 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:32.400 practical for example it doesn't really 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:34.620 use mirrored glyphs so a glyph might be 00:23:34.620 --> 00:23:36.480 like a b which when mirrored might look 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:38.700 like a lowercase D Comic Sans didn't do 00:23:38.700 --> 00:23:40.679 that they had two individual letters and 00:23:40.679 --> 00:23:42.240 because of this Comic Sans is really 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:44.279 good for people with dyslexia and also 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:46.020 Comic Sans really opened the floodgates 00:23:46.020 --> 00:23:48.240 for all of the fun 90s text moments you 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:50.039 know comic sounds walks so that word out 00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:51.840 could fly so that all of the crazy fun 00:23:51.840 --> 00:23:55.140 90 stuff could saw thanks Comic Sans now 00:23:55.140 --> 00:23:56.580 of course this is probably the time to 00:23:56.580 --> 00:23:57.779 mention that it is not the only 00:23:57.779 --> 00:23:59.700 controversial font let's have a little 00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:02.360 moment for the rest of them 00:24:02.360 --> 00:24:05.880 Papyrus by Chris Costello Treyon by 00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:08.760 Carol twombly aka the movie poster font 00:24:08.760 --> 00:24:12.360 jokerman by Andrew K Smith and curls Mt 00:24:12.360 --> 00:24:14.340 by Carl crossgrove and Steve Madison 00:24:14.340 --> 00:24:16.740 just taken a moment 00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:19.380 just a little moment for them now to sum 00:24:19.380 --> 00:24:20.940 up this section on Comic Sans I think 00:24:20.940 --> 00:24:22.020 I'm just going to go ahead and quote 00:24:22.020 --> 00:24:24.179 Vincent connair himself if you love 00:24:24.179 --> 00:24:25.620 Comic Sans you don't know much about 00:24:25.620 --> 00:24:27.659 typography but if you hate Comic Sans 00:24:27.659 --> 00:24:28.860 you really don't know much about 00:24:28.860 --> 00:24:31.020 typography either um 00:24:31.020 --> 00:24:33.059 [Music] 00:24:33.059 --> 00:24:35.580 thousands where to now in our 00:24:35.580 --> 00:24:37.020 typographic journey you know we've got 00:24:37.020 --> 00:24:39.360 fonts on computers Comics hands starting 00:24:39.360 --> 00:24:40.679 to get a little couple of haters we've 00:24:40.679 --> 00:24:42.419 got the Y2K aesthetic there's a bit 00:24:42.419 --> 00:24:43.919 going on mostly the thing that defines 00:24:43.919 --> 00:24:45.779 this error is technology digital design 00:24:45.779 --> 00:24:47.700 was getting easier your companies like 00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:49.260 Adobe pumping money into these products 00:24:49.260 --> 00:24:50.880 that were just facilitating more complex 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:52.740 designs and from that we got more 00:24:52.740 --> 00:24:55.020 complex typography the 2000s saw a lot 00:24:55.020 --> 00:24:56.760 of 3D lettering skeuomorphism and 00:24:56.760 --> 00:24:58.559 maximalism on top of this there were far 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:00.539 more articulated Trend Cycles if one 00:25:00.539 --> 00:25:02.880 tech company had a cool 3D logo then all 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:04.260 of a sudden all the tech companies had a 00:25:04.260 --> 00:25:06.240 cool 3D logo or if a rapper was like you 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:07.559 know what I'm gonna make all my slab 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:09.480 serif font have this gold stroke and be 00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:11.880 encrusted with diamonds yeah a bunch of 00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:13.559 other rappers followed suit so if that's 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:15.600 the 2000s we we all know what happens 00:25:15.600 --> 00:25:16.919 next right 00:25:16.919 --> 00:25:19.400 right 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:22.080 we're back here now neat so the internet 00:25:22.080 --> 00:25:24.120 starts to hit critical mass and maturity 00:25:24.120 --> 00:25:25.919 so between that all these font sharing 00:25:25.919 --> 00:25:27.480 websites Indie foundry's popping up 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:29.720 memes and of course Photoshop piracy 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:33.000 typography starts to have a big moment 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:35.220 one interesting font to mention here is 00:25:35.220 --> 00:25:36.900 one that had a Revival it was created in 00:25:36.900 --> 00:25:39.659 the 1960s by Jeffrey Lee but it found a 00:25:39.659 --> 00:25:42.179 new home online impact or I should say 00:25:42.179 --> 00:25:43.799 it's the typeface impact and the font 00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:45.419 was white stylized with that black 00:25:45.419 --> 00:25:47.460 stroke impact fun it was the font for 00:25:47.460 --> 00:25:49.679 memes that's huge it's like getting your 00:25:49.679 --> 00:25:52.080 dream job is a fun the other very 00:25:52.080 --> 00:25:53.760 important macro economic Force to 00:25:53.760 --> 00:25:56.460 mention is hipsters yeah hipsters bought 00:25:56.460 --> 00:25:58.020 two main movements into the spotlight 00:25:58.020 --> 00:26:00.000 the first was the Revival of the sign 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.919 writing aesthetic multiple clashing 00:26:01.919 --> 00:26:03.419 fonts designed to look good and 00:26:03.419 --> 00:26:05.279 complement each other in one big sign 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:06.840 the fonts that defined this era weren't 00:26:06.840 --> 00:26:07.980 the ones that came standard with your 00:26:07.980 --> 00:26:09.240 computer they were the ones that you 00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:10.620 downloaded from the internet it was 00:26:10.620 --> 00:26:12.240 fonts like babies new by Rao 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:14.340 shitsukunawa or Lobster by Pablo 00:26:14.340 --> 00:26:16.440 impolari every Burger Shop font ever and 00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:18.840 the smooth chunky glorious Cubano by 00:26:18.840 --> 00:26:20.400 Charles vanderwater so if that's the 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:22.140 first movement what was the second 00:26:22.140 --> 00:26:24.419 Sleek minimalism that International 00:26:24.419 --> 00:26:27.600 style is back let's go Switzerland like 00:26:27.600 --> 00:26:29.640 I said before no font epitomized this 00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:31.440 movement better than helvetica helvetica 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:33.539 was created in 1957 by the house type 00:26:33.539 --> 00:26:35.059 Foundry as part of that International 00:26:35.059 --> 00:26:37.559 typographic style and true to its name 00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:39.480 it is very much International we've 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:40.980 since seen helvetica in multiple 00:26:40.980 --> 00:26:42.360 different alphabets while I know that 00:26:42.360 --> 00:26:43.740 this video is mostly about the Roman 00:26:43.740 --> 00:26:45.179 alphabet helvetica is one of those ones 00:26:45.179 --> 00:26:47.279 that transcends but the real question is 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:49.620 why did this font from the 50s suddenly 00:26:49.620 --> 00:26:51.900 get a breath of new life in the 2010s 00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:54.240 the answer is once again 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:58.020 save freaking jobs yup helvetica was the 00:26:58.020 --> 00:26:59.880 main choice of the Apple iOS pretty much 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:01.980 up until 2015 which of course gave it a 00:27:01.980 --> 00:27:03.659 huge cult following a documentary and 00:27:03.659 --> 00:27:05.279 visibility in so many other corporate 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:06.960 identities helvetica was used as a 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:08.039 corporate word Mark for the following 00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:11.299 companies 00:27:11.299 --> 00:27:13.919 but of this International age the most 00:27:13.919 --> 00:27:15.600 important thing was just how accessible 00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:17.700 typeface creation became technology just 00:27:17.700 --> 00:27:19.320 got real good and anybody could make a 00:27:19.320 --> 00:27:20.700 fun in the same way anyone can now just 00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:21.960 make a YouTube video it's really really 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:24.539 cool yup Cambrian explosion of fonts 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:26.520 there are Indie designers making fonts 00:27:26.520 --> 00:27:29.580 upon fonts upon fonts and it is amazing 00:27:29.580 --> 00:27:30.960 and honestly it's kind of beautiful 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:32.760 because I feel like that is the whole 00:27:32.760 --> 00:27:34.980 aim of typography it's sharing it's 00:27:34.980 --> 00:27:36.840 communicating and it's collaborating and 00:27:36.840 --> 00:27:38.580 it's also probably I think how we should 00:27:38.580 --> 00:27:40.919 sum this all up 00:27:40.919 --> 00:27:43.080 from clay carvings and cuneiform to 00:27:43.080 --> 00:27:45.419 Comic Sans and Cubano I feel like the 00:27:45.419 --> 00:27:47.820 aim of typography has always sat 00:27:47.820 --> 00:27:49.440 alongside with the aim of the idealist 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:51.059 symbols were originally made to 00:27:51.059 --> 00:27:53.100 facilitate trade and a better life and 00:27:53.100 --> 00:27:54.899 they ushered in Civilization fonts are 00:27:54.899 --> 00:27:56.340 one of those things that honestly before 00:27:56.340 --> 00:27:58.500 starting this I sort of overlooked is 00:27:58.500 --> 00:28:01.020 just a nice quirky feature of design and 00:28:01.020 --> 00:28:02.760 I've realized now that's because they're 00:28:02.760 --> 00:28:04.200 meant to be overlooked when they're at 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:05.640 their best they are facilitating 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:07.919 information half the time fonts are 00:28:07.919 --> 00:28:09.480 working without anybody even knowing 00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:11.159 that they're working so I guess the 00:28:11.159 --> 00:28:12.779 right place to end this is by answering 00:28:12.779 --> 00:28:14.520 that original question that I asked 00:28:14.520 --> 00:28:16.799 where do all these fonts come from they 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:18.840 come from dynastic China the Phoenicians 00:28:18.840 --> 00:28:20.039 the Renaissance they come from 00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:21.659 Switzerland they come from you and me 00:28:21.659 --> 00:28:22.799 they come from people on the internet 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:24.360 uploading fonts that they think are cool 00:28:24.360 --> 00:28:26.100 and what do all these people have in 00:28:26.100 --> 00:28:29.039 common they all contributed to a 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:31.020 multiple millennia-long ongoing Mission 00:28:31.020 --> 00:28:33.539 the mission to connect they all knew 00:28:33.539 --> 00:28:35.399 that words could only ever say so much 00:28:35.399 --> 00:28:37.260 and so they morphed the glyphs to say 00:28:37.260 --> 00:28:40.140 even more these people were so eager to 00:28:40.140 --> 00:28:42.000 convey meaning with words they look 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.520 beyond the words themselves and yeah the 00:28:44.520 --> 00:28:46.679 written word the actual content it 00:28:46.679 --> 00:28:48.299 really does show our desire to 00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:50.640 communicate but fonts 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:53.279 fonts show just how deep that desire 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:57.559 goes so I guess what I am trying to say 00:28:57.559 --> 00:28:59.399 is this 00:28:59.399 --> 00:29:01.919 the next time you feel like Humanity's 00:29:01.919 --> 00:29:04.200 doomed we're all isolated and everything 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:07.500 is going downhill just uh I don't know 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:09.419 man 00:29:09.419 --> 00:29:10.980 stare a little longer at something that 00:29:10.980 --> 00:29:13.440 you've overlooked because that desire to 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.080 connect and the depth of that desire 00:29:16.080 --> 00:29:19.500 you can see it in everything 00:29:19.500 --> 00:29:21.080 fonts 00:29:21.080 --> 00:29:35.789 [Music]