Bad typography
November 22nd, 2007
The phenomenal achievements in human ingenuity when it comes to building tools to communicate through (like computers, desktop publishing software, and printers) has, unfortunately, not compelled any such advancements in the way human beings actually use these tools to communicate their messages.
Take a look at the sign below, pasted on a cardreader at the entrance of an underground parking, at the office where I work. Yellow letters on a white background isn’t exactly your textbook typographic recommendation. Using only capitals reduces the sign’s readability. Using underscore all the way through throws away its useful distinctiveness and only adds visual noise. Using three different colors certainly makes the word GROEN stand out, but pretty much diminishes the word’s entire context.
And what’s with the five exclamation marks? Of course, it could be that the creator of this rather urgent message possesses a fine sense for the subtle differences between five exclamation marks and four or six of them.
My name is Marco Hokke. My blog is about the things that interest me and things I might forget if I would not blog them.
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