Fontwatch: When Goudy Shuns Its Namesake
Where is the juice? The juice is on Melrose Hill. It drains westward, down the hill, eventually pooling into the most exquisitely glistening coagulations in the cracks here at Western and Melrose. It’s true. Believe it! I’ve seen it.
Goudy! Times-Roman-alike with yon diamond-studded i’s!
Goudy! Preferred font of wedding invitations worldwide!
Goudy! Nowhere to be seen on the above Goudy Billboard!
Excluding the ‘VistaMedia’ branding, there are six distinct fonts on the Goudy billboard, and nary a one of them is Goudy. Where is the justice in this cruel, cruel world. Let’s take a closer look, then, shall we? We shall:
From Adobe:
In 1915, Frederic W. Goudy designed Goudy Old Style, his twenty-fifth typeface, and his first for American Type Founders. Flexible enough for both text and display, it’s one of the most popular typefaces ever produced, frequently used for packaging and advertising. Its recognizable features include the diamond-shaped dots on i, j, and on punctuation marks; the upturned ear of the g; and the base of E and L.
Damn! That’s just cold, dog. 92 years of Goudy in the public eye, and for what!? To be thrown out like so much juice running down Melrose and coagulated here, on this VistaMedia billboard in the shadow of Melrose Hill. To be fair, one can see both sides of the argument. Imagine a conversation between the two Goudys, Goudy Summit Style:
Frederic W: This is my font and you have the same name. Take, friend, and use freely.
Alhambra Goudy Honda Goudy: (coughs embarrassedly) Eh. No thanks. Just not feeling it Fred. Look I sell cars. Frankly your font looks like a wedding invite, plain and simple. I need something…with impact. Would you go here to buy a car?
I thought as much. By the by, Freddy. Have you seen the interior of the all-new 2007 Honda Fit? What are you driving these days…
The juice runs down the hill and ultimately coagulates exquisitely, here, on the corner. I don’t know what to say. With 35 years of fontwatch documentation under my belt, I’m finally at a loss for words.
I love Fontwatch! And here I thought the job of holding people personally responsible for their ill advised font choices had gone out of fashion with the advent of computer assisted design.
Naturally, before the anonymity of the font pulldown menu, designers had a much more intimate relationship with their fonts. Years spent burnishing countless sheets of Letraset press type was akin to staring into your first true love’s sleeping face. By morning, you were overly acquainted with how much makeup she wore, and how her cheeks were a bit hairier than you realized, and the overzealousness she employed when grooming her eyebrows. No subtlety was too subtle. The distinct characteristic on the descender of a lowercase g were all you needed.
It warms the heart to know that font criticism survives despite the point and the click. And with a nice helping of literary snarkyness at no extra charge. Gracias.
Goudy Honda sure is a jerk. I’m opening a fried chicken joint across the street in Alhambra and calling it Wingdings ‘n’ Things. And we’re setting the type in Wingdings. That’ll learn ‘em.
Font nerds ruin reading for the rest of us.
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