The Copywriter Underground

You have to love a web site with a manifesto – especially one that concerns itself with the true building blocks of civilization:

The typeface.

The League of Moveable Type offers up a heaping helping of quality open-source fonts – and regular news updates on the state of typography online. And yes, their elegant home page drops you right into the typographical mosh pit with:

We’re done with the tired old fontstacks of yesteryear. Enough with the limitations of the web, we won’t have it. It’s time to raise our standards. Here, you’ll find only the most well-made, free & open-source, @font-face ready fonts.

Like any revolution, we aim to make progress, and we need help. If you want to be a part of this free, open-source type movement, you should join us and contribute. If you have any questions about The League or the movement, get in touch.

Naturally, they offer up a much longer manifesto, but you might already get their drift.

I admit to few addictions: my new daughter, fly fishing, arranging words in pleasing sequences, wild places, and fonts.

The loss of real typography online gutted text-based marketing of it’s often-pleasurable nuances. The imminent return of typography to marketing (the technology’s finally catching up) fills my heart with joy.

I’ll celebrate alongside the folks at the League of Moveable Type.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler

My love of all things typographic isn’t exactly a secret, but even I found myself taking a beating at the hands of of the “Cheese or Font” test. (Hat tip to Chile Underground for this one.)

I’m the kind of guy who would tell you I know my Gouda from my Goudy, but apparently not nearly as well as I thought.

And if you haven’t had enough font frivolity, don’t miss College Humor’s Font Fight video.

It’s gotten so I don’t even try to disguise my love of all things typographic. And yes, coming out of the font closet means I’m free of the secret shame I’d experience lusting over a particularly telling use of Futura, or a nifty graphic treatment of Garamond Condensed.

Now, College Humor has produced Font Fight – the hilarious, perfect-for Friday video that every font geek (and yes, I mean you ) will want to play over and over.

Click the image, watch the video, shoot Comic Sans out your nose...

After all, what fontophile would willingly miss the long-awaited meeting of Helvetica and Arial – the latter of which stole the former’s identity so many years ago? (The hairs on my neck are standing up.)

I can’t embed it, but it’s worth the short trip to the College Humor site, where you can embrace your inner font geek.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

I love typefaces the same way hardcore fans love rockstars; the whole doesn’t necessarily make sense, and the interest extends far beyond any contribution to society made by the object of lust.

Still, you don’t have to be smart to be in love, so when I saw this Periodic Table of Typefaces on the Behance portfolio site, I was smitten (click here for an even bigger version).

The Periodic Table of Typefaces (See any old friends?)

I drank in the appearance of a couple old friends: Palatino, Stone, Helvetica, Futura (parent font to Underground Fave Futura Extra Bold Condensed – a high-powered, hard-hitting display type favored by what was loosely known as the “Minnesota School” of advertisers, who won award after award in the 1980s).

If it’s one thing the first two decades of the Internet have cost us, it’s the beauty of type (the short list of “Internet safe” typefaces doesn’t allow much room for expression). I’m all for minimalist communication – words and images shorn of all the barriers to communication – but know how much atmosphere (or meaning, or context) the right typeface can add to piece of copy.

If the universe is just, we’ll one day enjoy “font freedom” on the Internet.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.