Typography : The Crystal Goblet

I was over at the FontShop blog when i saw this link: Typo-L : The Crystal Goblet.

It’s an interest article using a crystal goblet as a metaphor for typography. I first (well, as far as i can remember) became familiar with the term when watching the Helvetica doco, and so this was interesting to read.

To sum up: Beatrice Warde is advocating that good typography (how text is used in book design and advertising) should be like a crystal goblet is with wine, where there is nothing to get in the way of message, nothing to distract from the communication. 

I really like this concept, especially in book design where i just want to read the story and not get stuck looking at the type. Where this falls down for me is in the boredom factor, fonts like Helvetica are often touted as being the crystal goblet as they are so common and used for so many things that they have little feeling or meaning in themselves, as i would agree. But, the other side of this is that they become very stale, and users will often overlook these messages as they look like so many other messages they see everyday. 

So, i guess what I’m saying is i will try to create crystal goblets in my design, but also seek a certain freshness as well, whether that is by using newer types or older types in a different way… I’m not sure, but i know that i will be pushing myself. 

thanks for listening

byebye – sye