P.S. A Column On Things

By PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR. I am from Portland, Oregon, Beaumont ’66, Benson High ’70, MIT ’74. Some things are impossible to know, but it is impossible to know these things.

Helpless in the face of Fonts

July 14, 2024

I know rag left, centered, rag right and justified aren’t fonts, but do you ever notice them?

And speaking of noticing, I noticed the name tags at Moraga Safeway are in various typefonts. Like the name tags at Disneyland (silver decoration for 5 years service, gold for 10, diamond for 25), I thought the fonts indicated seniority, and that’s what some employees told me. But the manager said the tags are made at corporate, and she had never noticed that some were Helvetica Bold (that is, sans serif) while others were in an Italic decorative font. Pay attention people!

Posted at 9:20 pm Permalink 1 Comment

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I hate text larger than newsprint that is right justified. The white space between words destroys the elegance of a proportional font. The first thing I do if I'm given a document to work on that's right justified is to ragged it.

Posted by: Robert E. MalchmanJuly 15, 2024 at 11:15 AM

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Paul E. Schindler Jr.

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