Periodic table of typefaces | Hacker News Reader

Periodic table of typefaces

quicklycode.com

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I admit I love the sight of a periodic table, but I think this abuses the metaphor. Elements on the periodic table aren't ordered by their rank (abundance in earth or in space) and the grouping of the elements in rows and columns has a very clear interpretation as to their physical properties. I don't see any rules emerging here about which typefaces are related to each other or how they can be combined.

also I'm a little disturbed by the absence of comic sans?

I think you aren't giving the table the credit it deserves. The fonts aren't ordered by rank at all. They are arranged by class (grotesque on the left, proceeding to geometric and didone on the right).

I'll admit though, the rules don't seem entirely consistent to me. But they are consistent enough that I feel like there's an order here that I'm not quite grasping. I'd really like to see a post about how the table was put together, and whether the inconsistencies are arbitrary, or whether there really is a system behind it.

The creators have a FAQ which describes their methodology:

http://www.squidspot.com/Periodic_Table_of_Typefaces.html

Interesting: The fact that Helvetica is number one and matches up with Hydrogen's position is purely a nice coincidence.

To be fair, typefaces aren't natural, and they don't exhibit periodicity. If they were and did, we could probably predict properties of yet-undiscovered typefaces.

Are there no natural metrics for typefaces? I doubt that. If there are some, then order typefaces along those and project that higher dimensional space down to 2 or 3. Jigger a bit with the projection to make the output as legible as possible while preserving all or most all of the information it can covey. Done.

That is what the chemists did. It took them quite a bit of work (years, iirc), and that is why we laud them. They didn't lazily appropriate some previous table's shape and force the elements to fit it. Well, hell, maybe some chemists did do that sort of cargo cult "info"graphicing. But we rightly forgot about them because what they made was silly in comparison to the actual periodic table, which conveys real information about our world.

The periodic table of anything other than the elements is almost always nearly useless, especially if it looks anything like a periodic table of elements.

The periodic table is about the relationships of the elements to each other. Unless typefaces have the same relationships to each other as atoms, it shouldn't look at all like the periodic table of elements.

Indeed, this table is pure cargo cult. The superficial appearance of information without the true inner workings of it.

I'm happy there are regularly quite a few links about typefaces on HN. For me it was part of realizing that form has an impact on perception, and I'm trying to develop my taste. I feel quite alone amongst my friends though, as I want to rationnalize why choosing this font, and which other font does it play well with... This is still very dificult for me!

Take the Helvetica vs. Arial quiz[0] at Ironic Sans. The final logo should help further convince you as to the importance of good typographic design.

[0]: http://www.ironicsans.com/helvarialquiz/

Wow, I'm surprised I actually got them all right: I used the force for the mattel and toyota one's ;-)

I'm a bit disappointed Computer Modern didn't make the list, but I guess this chart is purely from a designer's perspective. The sources are lists of "best", "most popular", and "typefaces no one gets fired for using".

Still, I don't think it should claim to contain "notorious" typefaces while omitting Comic Sans, Arial, Brush Script, and Papyrus. :)

My thoughts exactly. Comic Sans is widely (on the internet) regarded (by designers) as one of the worst typefaces of all time, and in everyday life I see it everywhere- storefronts, menus, newsletters, etc.

That is awesome... and it's a fun coincidence that Helvetica starts with H.

Definitely analogous to Hydrogen.

I wonder if that observation was the catalyst for the whole project.

i'd thought the sans fonts would be the noble gasses.

i think a much better representation would be sans as metals, serifs as organics and transition from very spartan to very ornate. Helvetica and Times new roman as the top row. stuff built as postscript/pdf in the second row. not sure where to go after that.

certainly a disconnected wingding series as a separate row on the bottom.

A Knuth column would be fun.

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