Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

birdman · Feb 26, 2004, 03:37 PM

Or at least, my *boss* thinks Adobe Garamond is the only font. I've given up even *trying* to use anything else -- he'll accept Times (not to be confused with the infinitely different Times New Roman), although not Times bold italic. So I've resorted to simply using Adobe Garamond for just about everything, because I know it will meet with his approval.

Mind you, I really like Garamond as a text font; it's comfortable, familiar, and I think personally, easier to read than Times. But for a title, or something that needs to stand out, why not choose a font that's still readable but in some way conveys the meaning of the text as well? He'd rather I just use Adobe Garamond bold. Yum.

(Side story: Today, he referred to Copperplate Gothic Bold as Arial, and told me to remove Arial and Helvetica from my computer and never use them again, because they went out of style in the '80s. Also, he thinks of Times and Times Bold and Times Italic as three different "fonts." I can't imagine the mental turmoil he must go through reading a newspaper with "all those different fonts" on a page.)

*sigh* Thanks for listening to my little tale of woe.

-birdman

derbs · Feb 26, 2004, 04:35 PM

Copperplate should be buried with garlic and a stake through the heart

godzookie2k · Feb 27, 2004, 03:37 AM

actually your boss is kinda correct regarding times, times bold and times italic being three different fonts, because they are. The term "font" refers specifically to a weight, style and size within a typeface or font family.

Example:

Adobe Garamond is a typeface.

Adobe Garamond Bold 12pt is a font.

Adobe Garamond Bold 12pt and Adobe Garamond Italic 17pt are two separate fonts. As are Adobe Garamond bold 12pt and Sand Regular 8pt. but the latter are also separate typefaces and families.

godzookie2k · Feb 27, 2004, 03:37 AM

font
One weight, width, and style of a typeface. Before scalable type, there was little distinction between the terms font, face, and family. Font and face still tend to be used interchangeably, although the term face is usually more correct.
font family
Also known as family. The collection of faces that were designed together and intended to be used together. For example, the Garamond font family consists of roman and italic styles, as well as regular, semi-bold, and bold weights. Each of the style and weight combinations is called a face.

http://www.adobe.com/type/topics/glossary.html

birdman · Feb 27, 2004, 07:46 AM

Interesting. In college, we were taught that Adobe Garamond was the font, while bold, italic, etc. were different *weights* of that font. By Adobe's definitions, a typeface would be Garamond, but a specific font would be Garamond Bold. This goes *completely* against what we were taught -- our textbook said (and I even remember this being on a test) that a typeface was the "look" of the letters, but a *font* included all numbers, symbols, punctuation marks, etc. based on that look. And again, bold, italic, etc. were called "weights." Wow.

I guess you can't believe everything you learn in school.

-birdman

birdman · Feb 27, 2004, 07:46 AM

sorry... double-post

art_director · Feb 27, 2004, 07:44 PM

hmmmmmm...

being a type whore i enjoyed reading this thread.

type faces go in and out of style with art directors and designers. the smart art director / designer does not use type faces because they're in style. the best of them use the face that's appropriate for the job / brand / ad / cd cover / magazine, etc. they know how to select a face that best communicates their intentions. hacks use the same face over again, and again, and again, and again...

it sounds like the original poster is a junior. i would tell him / her to pack their shiit and leave their job IMMEDIATELY. it's always best to start a career in this biz under a person who gets it. that person's boss does not.

fred woodward, art director for rolling stone and arguably one of the most talented designers in the world, once said that his goal was to use every type face ever designed. he went on to say they all have a voice and a place. i agree with fred. i will use copperplate if i deem it to be the appropriate face for the job.

mydog8mymac · Feb 28, 2004, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by birdman:
Today, he referred to Copperplate Gothic Bold as Arial, and told me to remove Arial and Helvetica from my computer and never use them again, because they went out of style in the '80s.

You may quit with a clear conscience the day he forces you to use Comic Sans. Until then, get a Voodoo doll and drop a copy of "Stop Stealing Sheep" on his desk.

art_director · Feb 28, 2004, 04:56 PM

Originally posted by mydog8mymac:
You may quit with a clear conscience the day he forces you to use Comic Sans. Until then, get a Voodoo doll and drop a copy of "Stop Stealing Sheep" on his desk.

bwahahahahahaha....

birdman · Feb 29, 2004, 09:05 AM

Originally posted by mydog8mymac:
You may quit with a clear conscience the day he forces you to use Comic Sans. Until then, get a Voodoo doll and drop a copy of "Stop Stealing Sheep" on his desk.

LOL. I don't think I'll ever have to worry about him making me use Comic Sans.

And yes, art_director, this was my first job after graduation (been there almost a year now), and while I do have a much more impressive portfolio than I did before, I do sometimes worry about the little things that my boss makes me change that I know will be an issue to another employer... like alignment and contrast. My boss prefers things to be aligned, but not necessarily having related elements aligned in the same way (which is what I was taught). As for contrast, well, he prefers as little "changing" on the page as possible. Headline in red with text in blue? Nah -- "too many fonts on the page!"

(I do, however, keep backup copies of all my files, so I can change things I disagree with later, or include projects in my portfolio that were never actually used.)

Anyway, I always keep my eyes open to the help wanted ads. This particular job is nice because it's music-related, so it ties in my two interests nicely, and I have friendly co-workers and somewhat flexible hours so long as I work 40 hours a week. But, the company is small and can't really afford to pay me enough to where I can move out of my parents' house... and that will be the main issue for the next job I have (although I know money is one of those icky taboo things in interviews, so I'll have to be sly about it).

Thanks for the input, everyone.

-birdman

godzookie2k · Feb 29, 2004, 03:30 PM

remember: what you've learned aren't all the rules. the only rule is that there are no rules and it looks good in the end. Personally if I saw someone slap down red titling with blue copy I'd smack em. but thats just me.

birdman · Feb 29, 2004, 05:17 PM

Originally posted by godzookie2k:
remember: what you've learned aren't all the rules. the only rule is that there are no rules and it looks good in the end. Personally if I saw someone slap down red titling with blue copy I'd smack em. but thats just me.

Heh, I just picked two colors at random.

Photo678 · Feb 29, 2004, 07:41 PM

Noone can possibly compare to my former boss, and I mean nobody. This man is 80 years old, and wanted his website "AOL" nobody knew what that meant.

We would ask him, "Kjell when you say you want your website AOL, what do you mean" His response would be "Don't ask questions, we don't have time for that, just do what your told" After conferring with the webmaster we decided he wanted the layout to look like aol, as in the program main page So I designed it up, to look like that (garbage) and nope not even close to what he was talking about.

So again, we discuss, he gets flustered and says "Damnit, AOL" well after about 6 weeks of this, finally I get out of him that its the font they use on AOL. He was used to seeing the font on a mac, when we showed it to him on the PC, the poop hit the fan.

"Damnit, what did you do, why did you change it. You should never do any changed without discussing it with me" hehehe

Few months later, designing a postcard for him, "I want it AOL" he says So history tells me he wants the font used on AOL on the mac, which I think is geneva. So postcard gets designed up using geneva. Oh boy i'm in trouble now "Damnit AOL, why can't you just do what your told" This time he was talking about times new roman???????

When I tried to explain to him that AOL is not a font it is a program/mail he fired me for talking back to him.

HAHAHHA

PookJP · Mar 2, 2004, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by Photo678:
Noone can possibly compare to my former boss, and I mean nobody. This man is 80 years old, and wanted his website "AOL" nobody knew what that meant.

We would ask him, "Kjell when you say you want your website AOL, what do you mean" His response would be "Don't ask questions, we don't have time for that, just do what your told" After conferring with the webmaster we decided he wanted the layout to look like aol, as in the program main page So I designed it up, to look like that (garbage) and nope not even close to what he was talking about.

So again, we discuss, he gets flustered and says "Damnit, AOL" well after about 6 weeks of this, finally I get out of him that its the font they use on AOL. He was used to seeing the font on a mac, when we showed it to him on the PC, the poop hit the fan.

"Damnit, what did you do, why did you change it. You should never do any changed without discussing it with me" hehehe

Few months later, designing a postcard for him, "I want it AOL" he says So history tells me he wants the font used on AOL on the mac, which I think is geneva. So postcard gets designed up using geneva. Oh boy i'm in trouble now "Damnit AOL, why can't you just do what your told" This time he was talking about times new roman???????

When I tried to explain to him that AOL is not a font it is a program/mail he fired me for talking back to him.

HAHAHHA

That is honestly hilarious. The image of some old geezer not understanding the first thing about digital type faces is classic. I imagine him talking like McGruff the Crime Dog saying, "I want it AOL! Gimme it all AOL!"

Classic.

mydog8mymac · Mar 2, 2004, 05:44 PM

Originally posted by Photo678:
Noone can possibly compare to my former boss, and I mean nobody. This man is 80 years old, and wanted his website "AOL" nobody knew what that meant. When I tried to explain to him that AOL is not a font it is a program/mail he fired me for talking back to him.

Good Gravy!

There's a special place in hell for people like that; they'll be designing the Devil's newsletter�in Word. . . and old clipart.

PookJP · Mar 2, 2004, 05:57 PM

Can we have a link to his website?

mydog8mymac · Mar 2, 2004, 06:18 PM

Originally posted by PookJP:
Can we have a link to his website?

Please, please.

Photo678 · Mar 2, 2004, 06:42 PM

butterflyalphabet.com

I no longer am affiliated with this jerk off so mock it in here as you see fit. I would love to hear what everyone thinks of his "design skills"

For a real good time, feel free to contact him offering your services as a web designer, and I guarantee you, you will not be able to stay on the phone with him for more then 10 minutes. Very thick norwegian accent, have fun kids, lol

bojangles · Mar 3, 2004, 05:31 AM

Well, there�s some issues there (frames can be problematic), but all in all, I was quite surprised: it�s not nearly as bad as I was expecting. When I first saw the web site for my last employer, I had to struggle not to laugh. Whoever designed it had obviously copied the tabs off of Apple.com and slapped new names on them. The company president didn�t even realize it�.

PookJP · Mar 3, 2004, 01:27 PM

Originally posted by Photo678:
butterflyalphabet.com

I no longer am affiliated with this jerk off so mock it in here as you see fit. I would love to hear what everyone thinks of his "design skills"

For a real good time, feel free to contact him offering your services as a web designer, and I guarantee you, you will not be able to stay on the phone with him for more then 10 minutes. Very thick norwegian accent, have fun kids, lol

It's good, but it's not AOL!