Does the Back To The Future logo really count? Raiders of the Lost Ark as a very similar style but does not evoke "future". Yes, there are subtle differences. My point is, if you divorced them from the connection to their content I think it would be hard to point to one as "future" and the other as "not future"
BoredPositron 51 minutes ago [-]
The future always has context.
dhosek 7 hours ago [-]
At the 1996 ATypI meeting in Den Haag, one of the speakers coined the term “sterotypography” to refer to certain cliches that get used in type usage. Another case of this is the use of Neuland and Neuland Inline to represent Africa, and of course the assortment of faux Chinese fonts that were ubiquitous on Chinese takeout menus in the 80s and 90s (and probably still are, but are there still takeout menus in the era of Grubhub?).
benj111 18 minutes ago [-]
We use this sort of short hand all the time.
There's "ye olde" in a gothic font.
Walk into a super market, every product is giving you non textual clues as to what it is, and why it's different from the identical thing right next to it.
You notice the odd ones out because you have to stop and work out what the thing is.
Edit. An example is spreadable 'butter', in the UK and Europe you can't say it's butter, it doesn't say it's butter, but I bet most people have never noticed that because it's in butter type packaging with the design language you'd expect.
giancarlostoro 13 hours ago [-]
Needs a (2016)
> Posted on February 18, 2016 by Dave Addey
Great read otherwise, I know the author mentions their book, I do wonder if he covers the history of how these fonts came to be so standard... for future stuff
JK-Swizzle 12 hours ago [-]
As someone who has read the book, it does go through the history and inspiration of modern sci-fi typeset. Great coffee table book. Mainly expands on the articles on the website with more details and graphics.
giancarlostoro 12 hours ago [-]
Might have to snag it, and like you say, keep it laying around as a coffee table book somewhere. :)
bit_savager 9 hours ago [-]
"Somewhere"
genghisjahn 11 hours ago [-]
And then there is the papyrus font for avatar…
arionmiles 27 minutes ago [-]
He just... highlighted Avatar. He clicked the dropdown menu, and then he randomly selected Papyrus. Like a...Like a thoughtless child just wandering by a garden, just yanking leaves along the way.
Typeset in the future was awesome, too bad it stopped updating
efitz 4 hours ago [-]
I dunno, it’s kinda futuristic, but it’s missing the faux 3d effect where it appears to have warped up close to you and left a trail of light behind it, like the Star Trek example of the end. Nothing says “future” like fake 3d effects.
mrexroad 16 minutes ago [-]
FWIW, ST:TNG only used the faux 3D effect for the season that aired on the year of Star Trek’s 25th anniversary. Subsequent seasons reverted to the 2d text.
jonhohle 5 hours ago [-]
Missing The Terminator. Also applies to Wipeout, a game with some of my favorite logo and design work.
I like how the first like made the entire mobile browser go yellow, even the buttons. How did they do that?
baigy 7 hours ago [-]
> the devastating Kern Wars of 2067
Do we know who won those wars?
jamonserrano 4 hours ago [-]
Had the other side won, we would know them as the Kem Wars.
mrexroad 13 minutes ago [-]
Revenge is a typeface best served with Serifs
Keeeeerrrrrrrrrrrnnn!!
mikestorrent 6 hours ago [-]
To be honest I've had a lot of difficulty telling the two sides apart
marcosdumay 6 hours ago [-]
From the result there, looks like each faction got to keep some terrain.
xiaoyu2006 12 hours ago [-]
A genuinely fun post.
ctippett 10 hours ago [-]
I agree! A refreshing interlude to the cybersecurity postmortems and corporate layoff news.
harimau777 11 hours ago [-]
I kind of wish they had used something other than Eurostyle for the starting font in their example since it is already a font that has become associated with sci-fi.
Still a great article though! More of this please!
There's "ye olde" in a gothic font.
Walk into a super market, every product is giving you non textual clues as to what it is, and why it's different from the identical thing right next to it.
You notice the odd ones out because you have to stop and work out what the thing is.
Edit. An example is spreadable 'butter', in the UK and Europe you can't say it's butter, it doesn't say it's butter, but I bet most people have never noticed that because it's in butter type packaging with the design language you'd expect.
> Posted on February 18, 2016 by Dave Addey
Great read otherwise, I know the author mentions their book, I do wonder if he covers the history of how these fonts came to be so standard... for future stuff
Papyrus on the big screen 'til mid-to-late 2030s.
Michroma is a Google Font alternative for Eurostile.
Is the Trajan fad over yet?[1]
[1] https://letterboxd.com/sethpaul/list/trajan-the-typeface-tha...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Designers_Republic
Do we know who won those wars?
Keeeeerrrrrrrrrrrnnn!!
Still a great article though! More of this please!
Who knew back then that we'd go from less design to no design at all produced by machines.