Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I Heart Papyrus (?!!)


Good God Almighty: I just found a site devoted to the glorification of Papyrus—arguably the most poorly designed, overused typeface of the contemporary era. What exactly is Papyrus referencing? Degraded calligraphy on rough paper? The ancient world? All things granola? Orientalism?

What is it about these awful display faces that captures the imagination of so many practitioners with access to Photoshop ("designers" who use Papyrus would use Photoshop for all their typographic stylings)? It rivals my old favorites Remedy and Fajita, which were at their zenith in the mid 1990s.

* I actually think the I Heart Papyrus site is tongue-in-cheek. It just has to be.