Typography is more than just font design.

It affects informational readability — and at times, credibility. It’s contributed terms to our language. And sometimes, there are stories of intrigue hidden in its past.

Linguist Daniel Midgley is the font of all knowledge on this episode of Talk the Talk.


Listen to this episode

209: Typography

Download this episode

You can listen to all the episodes of Talk the Talk by pasting this URL into your podlistener.

http://danielmidgley.com/talkthetalk/talk_classic.xml

Promo

Promo with Kylie Sturgess, 2015-06-16: Typography

Show notes

Alex Poole: Which Are More Legible: Serif or Sans Serif Typefaces?
http://alexpoole.info/blog/which-are-more-legible-serif-or-sans-serif-typefaces/

12 words you need to ban from your vocabulary to be a better ally
http://mashable.com/2015/06/04/ally-vocabulary-banned-words/

UMD Study Concludes Parents Mixing Languages has No Impact on Children’s Language Development
http://www.umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/umd-study-concludes-parents-mixing-languages-has-no-impact-childrens-language-development

Hermann Zapf: “Typography is two-dimensional architecture…”
https://sharonmcteir.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/quotation-by-hermann-zapf/

Video: “The Art of Hermann Zapf”, made for Hallmark Cards circa 1967.

Typography Quotations
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/typography/a/Typography_Quotations.htm

Daniel’s Page of Fontery
http://www.goodreasonblog.com/p/fontery.html

Straight Dope: What’s the origin of the expression “mind your P’s and Q’s”?
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/761/whats-the-origin-of-the-expression-mind-your-ps-and-qs

What is the origin of the terms “upper case” and “lower case” for capital and small letters?
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question84960.html

Wikipedia: Letter case
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case

What’s The Difference Between A Font And A Typeface?
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3028971/whats-the-difference-between-a-font-and-a-typeface

10 typography terms that every designer needs to know
http://www.creativebloq.com/typography/terms-designer-needs-know-111112

The fight over the Doves
http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21591793-legendary-typeface-gets-second-life-fight-over-doves

Lost typeface printing blocks found in river Thames
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31188255?SThisFB

The Gorgeous Typeface That Drove Men Mad and Sparked a 100-Year Mystery
http://gizmodo.com/the-gorgeous-typeface-that-drove-men-mad-and-sparked-a-1686081182

The Doves Type™ revival
http://www.typespec.co.uk/doves-type-revival/

Doves Type specimen sheet (PDF)
http://typespec.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Doves-Type-specimen-2015-v22.pdf

How Typefaces Influence Perception and Persuasion
http://www.mdgadvertising.com/blog/how-typefaces-influence-perception-and-persuasion/

Errol Morris: How Typography Shapes Our Perception Of Truth
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3046365/errol-morris-how-typography-shapes-our-perception-of-truth

Are Some Fonts More Believable Than Others?
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670556/are-some-fonts-more-believable-than-others

Errol Morris: Hear, All Ye People; Hearken, O Earth (Part 1)
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/hear-all-ye-people-hearken-o-earth/?_r=1

How typeface influences the way we read and think
http://theweek.com/articles/463196/how-typeface-influences-way-read-think

When Typography Speaks Louder Than Words
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/13/when-typography-speaks-louder-than-words/

5 Psychology Studies That Tell Us How People Perceive Visual Information
http://piktochart.com/5-psychology-studies-that-tell-us-how-people-perceive-visual-information/

CERN scientists inexplicably present Higgs boson findings in Comic Sans
http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/4/3136652/cern-scientists-comic-sans-higgs-boson

Yuccie: The hipster is dead, and you might not like who comes next
http://mashable.com/2015/06/09/post-hipster-yuccie/

Wikipedia: Autological words are words whose form have something to do with what the word means.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autological_word

Merriam-Webster: boustrophedon
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boustrophedon

howjsay: boustrophedon
http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=boustrophedon

A.Word.A.Day
http://www.wordsmith.org/words/boustrophedon.html

How to Pronounce Boustrophedon (wrongly)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvaK1tYc3OU@talkrtr@benainslie@RTRFM

Here’s a disturbing “typeface based on the grasping limbs of submarine creatures”: https://t.co/mPsY4RUOXd

— Darin Flynn (@darin_flynn) June 15, 2015


Image credit: https://vimeo.com/5385464


Transcript

We’re working our way back through the archives. If you think we should prioritise a transcript of this episode, let us know!