Body-text fonts, pt. 30: Utopia
The editors of the distinguished journal Philosophy & Public Affairs have resigned en masse – apparently, to escape the clutches of the publisher, Wiley – and have founded a new open-access journal. There is some understandable consternation about the Rawlsian overtones of the new journal’s title (see this blog post’s comments). I think it would be catchier, not to say less sanctimonious, to simply call the new publication “Footnotes to Rawls.” For a long period, the old journal was, in effect, a Rawls-commentary venue. Some readers found this dull; my rejoinder is, Not as dull as whatever it is the journal has been publishing lately.
But that’s neither here nor there. My concern about the switch to open-access publishing is about whether the new typesetting will suck. Since the 1990s, the old journal has been, typographically as well as thematically, outstandingly unadventurous, “safe as houses.” This despite the typeface’s name: Utopia.
I used to hate how the typeface looked. Now I don’t.
Reading articles from PPA’s Rawlsian heydey feels like slipping into a warm bath. Tonight I look back, fondly, at a specimen from 2004 (a response to Singer, not Rawls, as it happens):
My enthusiasm for this prose has grown over the years. (It probably helps that I knew the author.) Here is the exact price of the designer label sweater. Here is the exact price of the department-store brand sweater. Here is the difference. Now here are some goods that these savings could buy. The author’s boredom with the scenario is palpable. That’s as it should be. The scenario is over-discussed in the literature. But, paradoxically, the boredom verges on amusement. The designer label sweater is “stunning,” and it’s on sale for just $49.95 (what an irresistible find).
To apply all the requisite shades of beige, one needs a big block of text and a bland typeface – but not a cheap-looking one. Utopia is just right.
Erewhon and Heuristica are free Utopia “clones.”
But that’s neither here nor there. My concern about the switch to open-access publishing is about whether the new typesetting will suck. Since the 1990s, the old journal has been, typographically as well as thematically, outstandingly unadventurous, “safe as houses.” This despite the typeface’s name: Utopia.
I used to hate how the typeface looked. Now I don’t.
Reading articles from PPA’s Rawlsian heydey feels like slipping into a warm bath. Tonight I look back, fondly, at a specimen from 2004 (a response to Singer, not Rawls, as it happens):
My enthusiasm for this prose has grown over the years. (It probably helps that I knew the author.) Here is the exact price of the designer label sweater. Here is the exact price of the department-store brand sweater. Here is the difference. Now here are some goods that these savings could buy. The author’s boredom with the scenario is palpable. That’s as it should be. The scenario is over-discussed in the literature. But, paradoxically, the boredom verges on amusement. The designer label sweater is “stunning,” and it’s on sale for just $49.95 (what an irresistible find).
To apply all the requisite shades of beige, one needs a big block of text and a bland typeface – but not a cheap-looking one. Utopia is just right.
Erewhon and Heuristica are free Utopia “clones.”