Monday, October 27, 2008

Are you there Fonts? It's me, The Mayor

Hello, friends of the Villatype family; I hope you had a salty, chocolatey week since I last spoke to you. I know I did, but that's because I ate chocolate-covered pretzels for lunch. I know, I know - if you wanted to talk about fatty snacks, you'd watch Paula Deen.

So what have I decided to blabber on about this week? Well, in honour of Halloween, I have decided to talk about my favourite spooky and creepy fonts! Now might be a good time to mention that I tried so hard to make a Type-and-Halloween related joke, but the best I could come up with was Trick-or-Type. Terrible, I know. Let's get onto the fonts before I embarrass myself even more.

I tried very hard to find which font this is, but I have no idea. Let's face it; I wasn't hired for my typeface knowledge. Regardless, I love the sort-of acroterium on the ends of the A, F, and Y. It's more of a typeface for a fairy tale than a haunted family. Ooh, did I just discover the biting satire behind the film? I know, it wasn't exactly hidden.

This is where we divide the readers; you are either an Addams Family fan or a Munsters fan. Personally, I love The Munsters; the sexual innuendo of The Addams Family was a little lost on a 7-year-old Mayor. I would like to think that The Munsters typeface is one of the first of its kind, but the sad fact is it had been used more than a decade earlier by Kustom Kulture. Damn you, Ed Roth!!

I could easily talk about The Misfits (the band with dudes, not the one from Jem) here. But I won't, because it is a tired, tired font. Instead, may I present you with a simple, yet very scary use of type instead? Cast your peepers on this album cover by A.R.E Weapons? Oooh, creepy!! This album was released in 2003 and I haven't seen a spookier album cover since. Wait - is it the use of Pazuzu's face that does it? Bah, I guess. Can you just give me this one?

Don't you wish you could go back to the glory days of The Nightmare Before Christmas? Back when it was a mid-90s movie for children instead of the uniform for overweight pre-teen goth girls? Such a shame. Anyways, do you think this typeface would be as effective if it were applied to Fluffy Kitty and the Epic Journey to Snuggle Island? The answer is no, because that is not a real movie, you goof. But do you know what I love the most about this? That someone actually created a typeface that works for both Halloween and Christmas (sorry Hanukkah. You'll always have Caslon Titling).

OH MY GOD, THIS IS THE SCARIEST ONE OF ALL!! Sweet Christ, bring back the image of Pazuzu!

No comments: