Cutting-edge typography
Steve Saxe
"Cutting-edge4 typographers in California" have produced new typefaces
named after notorious convicted murderer Charles Manson. The faces are
Manson Regular, Manson Alternate, and Manson Bold. All three were
"officially redubbed Mason after criticism." There is also a small
showing of the typeface on page 23 - the first time I've seen a type
specimen in a mass media publication.
Does anyone in this well-informed group know who designed/marketed
"Manson" ?
---sos
Tim Rylance
Printing and is sold by Emigre, who might well be described as
"cutting-edge typographers in California". It was first shown in
Barnbrook's article in Emigre #23, where he says
Manson was named after the mass-murderer Charles Manson. This was
a different way of looking at the naming of a typeface. Here I
tried to create a double take. While reading the word Manson,
associations with other words such as "mason" and "mansion" might
be evoked, names that do relate somewhat to the elegant look of
the typeface. The surname, in addition, also sounds quite
sophisticated, but then you realize that it's the name of a
mass-murderer and you re-assess your attitude to the typeface.
The font itself is a composite of all the interesting classical
characters that I have seen.
What does it look like? Perpetua Light Titling on acid, I suppose.
It costs $95 from Emigre on (916) 451 4344 or (800) 944 9021.
Barnbrook's other designs include "Exocet" (also available from Emigre)
and "Bastard".
--
Tim Rylance <t...@puffball.demon.co.uk>
Peter Flynn
[...]
Does anyone in this well-informed group know who designed/marketed
"Manson" ?
Would this be what's known as a "killer application" ? :-)
///Peter
David S. Broudy
pfl...@curia.curia.ucc.ie (Peter Flynn) writes:
> Does anyone in this well-informed group know who designed/marketed
> "Manson" ?
>
According to my shiny new Emigre catalog, "Mason" was designed by
Jonathan Barnbrook, and is marketed by (quelle surprise) Emigre ...
It's almost as illegible as Remedy! I want it!
---------
bro...@mizar.usc.edu
"I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing"
Nothing above should be construed as representing
the University of Southern California.
Kurt Kasten
Helter Skelter Revisited
You've no doubt read about the sudden popularity of mass murderer
Charles Manson as a cult figure --it's not hard to find T-shirts
and other Manson paraphernalia in the trendier sections of major
cities. Recent news coverage of such items has reminded us of the
design communities own Manson controversy - an Emigre typeface
called Manson from designer Jonathan Barnbrook. This "family" of
typefaces comes in Manson Regular, Manson Alternate, Manson Bold,
Manson Bold Alternate, Manson Super, and Manson Super Bold. If you
want to add a macabre touch to your next project (or if you want to
call and register your disgust), Emigre can be reached at 800-944-9021.
Unlike the deal with some of the T-shirts, there is no royalty from
font sales paid to the still incarcerated murderer.
-----------------
An example is shown and for what its worth, I like the design.
-Kurt
Charles A. Bigelow
Steve Saxe <steve...@accbbs.com> wrote:
>I found the following gem in Time Magazine for March 21, on page 23.
>"Cutting-edge4 typographers in California" have produced new typefaces
>named after notorious convicted murderer Charles Manson. The faces are
>Manson Regular, Manson Alternate, and Manson Bold.
Gosh, this could be just the beginning of a whole series of "serial killer"
fonts. "Ted Bundy", "Richard Speck", "Ed Gein", "Gary Addison Taylor" (a
former neighbor of mine), and many others. Of course, some unscrupulous vendors
could ruin the fun by simply cloning one serial killer font and renaming it
with another serial killer's name, thus reducing the diversity of this little
eco-niche. Maybe move on to fictional serial killers, like "Norman Bates".
We'll see.
Joe Ondrechen
> Gosh, this could be just the beginning of a whole series of "serial killer"
> fonts. "Ted Bundy", "Richard Speck", "Ed Gein", "Gary Addison Taylor" (a
I would assume that the bizarre graffitti found at the scenes of the murders
committed by the Manson family are the inspiration for the Manson font;
if I remember correctly, photos of "Helter Skelter" (and etc.) scrawled with
a paint brush made the covers of most of the news magazines back then.
So, serial-killer status by itself may not be enough.
Ddumanis
sorry
Richard Hunt
[snip]
> Imagine a collection
> of faces based on fictional Good Guys. A few spring immediately
> to mind:
>
> Lord Peter Wimsey: a laconic upper-crust face, like a fine aged Oporto,
> Nero Wolfe: has a rather, well, Balkanised feel to it,
> Hercule Poirot: precise Parisian appearance with long finely coiffeured
> serifs
> Lord D'Arcy: thaumaturgical laced heavily with intellectual pragmatism.
>
> Whether the corresponding sidekicks would have faces named after them
> would be moot -- ``Archie Goodwin'' doesn't elicit much aesthetic
> appeal somehow.
>
> The mind boggles,
> ........ Henry
Isn't Hercule Poirot Belgian though?
Of course Sherlock Holmes would be a style reminiscent of 19th century
British newspapers, but there could not be a sidekick Dr. Watson font as
Microsoft have a program of that name!
Richard Hunt.
rh...@cix.compulink.co.uk
Harvey Fishman
> Your last point raises multiple possibilities. Imagine a collection
> of faces based on fictional Good Guys. A few spring immediately
> to mind:
>
> Lord Peter Wimsey: a laconic upper-crust face, like a fine aged Oporto,
> Nero Wolfe: has a rather, well, Balkanised feel to it,
> Hercule Poirot: precise Parisian appearance with long finely coiffeured
> serifs
> Lord D'Arcy: thaumaturgical laced heavily with intellectual pragmatism.
>
> Whether the corresponding sidekicks would have faces named after them
> would be moot -- ``Archie Goodwin'' doesn't elicit much aesthetic
> appeal somehow.
>
> The mind boggles,
Sayers described Peter Wimsey as "a cheese faced Englishman" in several of
the novels. The one that comes immediately to mind is _Busman's
Honeymoon_, where the villain (his first name was Frank, but the rest
escapes me) uses the description when talking of the money that he could
extort from 'his Lordship' whom he sees as an easy mark. Now if only I
knew what a "cheese face" looked like. This is a quustion that has
troubled me for nigh onto 25 years since I first discovered Sayers and
Wimsey. Still, this seems very applicable to your suggestion...
Harvey
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harvey Fishman | There is no greater failure than
fis...@panix.com | that of making an enemy.
718-258-7276 |
Steve Saxe
HM>* Maybe move on to fictional serial killers, like "Norman
HM>* Bates". We'll see.
HM>Your last point raises multiple possibilities. Imagine a collection
HM>of faces based on fictional Good Guys. A few spring immediately
HM>to mind:
HM>Lord Peter Wimsey: a laconic upper-crust face, like a fine aged Oporto,
HM>Nero Wolfe: has a rather, well, Balkanised feel to it,
HM>Hercule Poirot: precise Parisian appearance with long finely coiffeured
HM>serifs
HM>Lord D'Arcy: thaumaturgical laced heavily with intellectual pragmatism.
There is also the potential for retrofitting. A few years ago a friend's
cat had her 5th litter of 5 kittens. My friend had run out of names and
asked me for help. We named the kittens Caslon, Baskerville, Bodoni,
Garamond, and (my favorite) Figgins.
--sos
David Mandl
I would assume that the bizarre graffitti found at the scenes of the murders
committed by the Manson family are the inspiration for the Manson font;
if I remember correctly, photos of "Helter Skelter" (and etc.) scrawled with
a paint brush made the covers of most of the news magazines back then.
Untrue. The name has nothing to with anything that Manson did. It was
just meant to be shocking and make people do a double-take when they see
it. It's explained in Emigre magazine in the issue that introduced the
face (a couple of issues back, I forget which one). I still think the
name's really dumb.
--Dave.
--
Dave Mandl
dma...@panix.com (play)
dma...@lehman.com (work)
David Mandl
"Manson" (now "Mason") is put out by Emigre. Don't know the designer's
name, sorry
I'm pretty sure it was designed by Jonathan Barnbrook.
Victor Eijkhout
Of course Sherlock Holmes would be a style reminiscent of 19th century
British newspapers,
Didn't he already have Baskerville?
--
Victor Eijkhout .................................... ``Hath not a dude eyes?
Department of Computer Science ...................... If you prick us, do we
University of Tennessee .......................not get bummed? If we eat bad
Knoxville TN 37996 ...................... guacamole, do we not blow chunks?''
+1 615 974 8298 .............................. [Keanu Reeves, on The Critic]
Peter Flynn
>In article <CnBy...@cix.compulink.co.uk> rh...@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Richard Hunt") writes:
>
> Of course Sherlock Holmes would be a style reminiscent of 19th century
> British newspapers,
>
>Didn't he already have Baskerville?
Yes; they tried to hound him out of it, but it dogged him all his life...
///Peter
Steve Saxe
DM>just meant to be shocking and make people do a double-take when they see
DM>it. It's explained in Emigre magazine in the issue that introduced the
DM>face (a couple of issues back, I forget which one).
"So, Mr. Gill, much as we'd like to call your new typeface "Gill Sans,"
the marketing group says that "Jack-the-Ripper Sans" will really make
typographers sit up and take notice."
DM>I still think the name's really dumb.
Dumb is too kind.
---sos
Peter Zelchenko
Charles A. Bigelow <big...@Sunburn.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
>Gosh, this could be just the beginning of a whole series of "serial killer"
>fonts. "Ted Bundy", "Richard Speck", "Ed Gein", "Gary Addison Taylor" (a
>could ruin the fun by simply cloning one serial killer font and renaming it
>with another serial killer's name, thus reducing the diversity of this little
>We'll see.
So let me get this straight. Is this or is this not a famous quote
by Gary Addison Taylor, the notorious serial killer, overheard during
morning exercises in the maximum security wing at Fresno:
"Talk about strange neighbors -- I used to live next to a *type designer*!"
--
Peter Zelchenko (pe...@chinet.com) | InfoComm Electronic Pre-Press
Chicago, Illinois | 312-751-1220 (w), 312-RED-BIRD (h)
Peter Zelchenko
>steve harley <sha...@nyx10.cs.du.edu> wrote:
>[in reference to serial killer fonts]
>>how about a font which contains PostScript code to somehow
>>lock up your computer's serial port?
>
>What a fine idea! Or, perhaps some code to simply reset the printer's internal
>password, rendering it inaccessible. That would be a "killer", too. Or, perhaps
>a font could plant a virus in ATM or TrueType scalers on the host, such that
>they would then infect the fonts on the system with various unwanted graphical
>surprises, e.g. a portrait of Elvis randomly appears instead of Times Roman
>capital 'O'. Since users copy and distribute fonts with great enthusiasm, font
>viruses could get widely distributed. They would be especially infective if
>they could infect the various tools for converting and editing font formats.
>Obviously an area begging for creative research. Of course, font viruses would
>be copyrightable, though probably no author of a virus would actually want to
>identify himself in order to claim copyright, since random, unauthorized
>copying is what a virus creator desires.
Unfortunately, this has been done before. My company (a service bureau)
received over the BBS a PostScript file with the PostScript code to
initialize our imagesetter's hard disk. It worked. Since then we've
put passwords on our imagesetters.
Another service bureau story is of a man who modemed jobs to us from
a prison in North Carolina (we're in Chicago). We dutifully Fed Ex'ed
his QMSes back to him and later received our invoice in return mail
with "RETURN TO SENDER -- INMATE RELEASED FROM PRISON" stamped on the
front of the envelope. Needless to say, we never got paid.
David S. Broudy
pe...@chinet.chinet.com (Peter Zelchenko) writes:
> Unfortunately, this has been done before. My company (a service bureau)
> received over the BBS a PostScript file with the PostScript code to
> initialize our imagesetter's hard disk. It worked. Since then we've
> put passwords on our imagesetters.
It's amazingly easy if you don't have a password set:
(exitserver stuff I forgot)
0 0 initializedisk
That's all... an imagesetter without a password is a sitting duck...
---------
bro...@mizar.usc.edu
"Oh my God, I forgot to get a job!"
David S. Broudy
steve...@accbbs.com (Steve Saxe) writes:
> Figgins
Book or Regular?
I once got a huge bloated tomcat as a "gift." I named him "FatAss."
Now I'm thinking that's be a great name for a typeface.
Hello, Emigre?
Peter Zelchenko
>It's amazingly easy if you don't have a password set:
>
>(exitserver stuff I forgot)
>0 0 initializedisk
serverdict begin 0 exitserver
Peter Hanley
it. It's explained in Emigre magazine in the issue that introduced the face (a couple of issues back,
I forget which one). I still think the name's really dumb."
I agree. having seen the font, it has more to do with the typography on Lords of the New Church albums
than good 'ol Charlie. A Manson font would be killer (based on the grafitti at the scene of the slayings), but I
would think it should be a freeware, instead of sold by Emigre...
Does anybody know how much that font is, while we're talking about it?
Peter