Robin MientjesFeb 24

Okay, so, a rumination. I’ve been thinking about pedigree in type design for many years – I did a whole talk about it in 2020* and for some reason things have, in my eyes, only gotten worse. The depth of history behind the concepts (if there is a concept beyond “that’s already a font”, of course) seems to be getting shallower. Everyone now wants to make a Selfvetica, a Mine’s New Roman — I understand that it’s an easier sell, but also, at the same time, isn’t it a lot harder to sell when the market already literally has those designs?†

I’m looking to expand on these thoughts, but I’m also curious to hear what others think.

* https://essays.veryrobin.me/reconsidering-revivals.html
† I’m sure the market is a large factor, but I’d like to not be _that_ cynical. There’s gotta be more to it!

Reconsidering Revivals – Very Robin Essays

Robin Mientjes is a senior designer in Oslo, Norway. She designs type, interactive experiences, and more.

essays.veryrobin.me
Show threadKai BernauFeb 24
@veryrobin Could it be just risk reduction strategy? Same reason why we keep seeing reboots and extended universes of existing movie franchises. How does that work out now that *everyone* is making their own Batman New Roman? Idk.
Show threadRobin MientjesFeb 24
@kai Yeah, very possible. People do still steal chair designs outright (how many times have I sat on a fake Eames?), so that part of my metaphor never stopped being relevant. But as a business strategy you do stake your first position as “don’t worry, we’re just like all the others” and, well, that seems deeply uninteresting and not competitive to me.
Show threadMathieu Reguer
@veryrobin @kai could this cascading balancing act between social integration and self affirmation go back all the way to graphic design/publishers/brands/humans? Where a studio needs to somehow be on trend and be original at the same time, where one need to fit in and stand out at the same time to exist in this economy™… whether infinite-variation-tica are a symptom or a cause, I don’t know.
Feb 24 at 5:23pmIvory for iOS