![]() Trying to read a font that doesn’t present an even texture is like trying to listen to a symphony with a jackhammer sporadically pounding in the orchestra pit. Thus, the inherent differences between the letters shine through, rather than those inherent differences being muddied by haphazard variations. An even texture indicates that the visual weights of the individual letters are well-balanced. So when you set a block of text in a given typeface, that block of text should have an overall even texture. A good typeface lets those inherent differences between letters shine through, while maintaining harmony between all of the letters. If letters didn’t differ from one another, we wouldn’t be able to read them and get information from them. For example, an “x” is totally different from an “i.” That’s the very basis of letters. Each letter is inherently different from other letters. Letters do the job of conveying language. Instead, I mean the “texture” of an overall block of text set in Papyrus. I don’t mean the “texture” in the sense of the various nicks or scratches on the edges of Papyrus letters. One of the most important fundamentals by which to analyze a typeface is that of texture. Keep in mind that Papyrus is what you would call a “display” font, which means it was never intended to be used in blocks of body copy in the first place – not that that has stopped anyone from using it for their term paper on ancient Mesopotamian economics.Įven though Papyrus is a display font, seeing it set in body copy still helps us analyze how well it balances visual weight. Here I’ve set blocks of body copy in Papyrus, Garamond, and Comic Sans. So, I set out to compare and contrast the qualities of Comic Sans and Papyrus with the qualities of the most beloved typeface – Garamond. If Papyrus is the second-most hated font, next to Comic Sans, it makes sense to define Papyrus’s “bad”-ness in comparison with Comic Sans. Surprisingly, I didn’t find this to be true. If it’s so hated, clearly it must be lacking in fundamentals. To start off, let’s look at Papyrus’s fundamentals as a typeface. The surprisingly solid typographic fundamentals of Papyrus One that sends an important message about the potential downfall of civilization. I believe that James Cameron’s use of Papyrus was an artistic choice. And no, not necessarily because of any aesthetic quality the font has. The most surprising finding of all was that Papyrus could potentially be the perfect font for the film Avatar. There were things I learned about Papyrus that deepened my dislike of the font, but there were other things that helped me appreciate it. (I wish I was kidding.) I’ve edited it down to this long blog post. I spent over a year writing a novel’s worth of words trying to untangle the mess. So, I set about the arduous task of breaking down Why You Hate Papyrus. It’s another thing entirely for it to be used to represent what would become the top-grossing movie of all time. There's a part of me that hopes "Avatar: The Way of Water" ends with the same large screen-spanning Papyrus font that closes out the original film as one final gotcha, as it would possibly be the greatest punchline of the year, bar none.It’s one thing for Papyrus to be used on the sign of a strip-mall bakery. I wish Cameron had dug in his heels and kept the original logo, especially since "Avatar" has already been at the forefront of a series of outdated jokes for well over a decade now. Time to move out of your mom's basement, Ryan! And if Papyrus resonates with the issues of Indigenous cultures in the public consciousness, then that fits well with 'Avatar,' so I'm not losing any sleep over it." "Ryan Gosling needs to get out more, instead of freaking out over our font. Cameron even goes so far as to jokingly fire back at Gosling: Of course, it was trolled mercilessly as a lazy choice, but frankly, I like the font."Īfter all of these years, he's taken the jokes in stride. "I was not aware that our font was an off-the-shelf thing I assumed the art department or the title company came up with it.
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