FUTURA

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FUTURA

Pages from Never Use Futura, Book by Douglas Thomas

The average person today has access to seemingly unlimited fonts - and with such great power comes great responsi-bility. One can use Curlz MT on a resume or Brush Script for a party invitation, but should one? Though trained de-signers might have a clear idea of the best fonts for each task, most of us laymen are reduced to guesswork, instinct and the guidance of edicts like “never use Comic Sans.” But this prohibitive attitude toward font freedom doesn’t necessarily serve us well. At least that’s the argument of Douglas Thomas, the author of Never Use Futura - a celebratory new history of the iconic font, which does not actu-ally condemn all uses of Futura. “I decided to use the title in part as a provocation, and as an ironic commentary on how most of the conversation around fonts people have is housed in a negative,” Thomas told HuffPost in a phone interview. “People know not to use Comic Sans and maybe Papyrus - those are things you just shouldn’t do. But very rarely do people understand why they should use a typeface.” The full title of his book, Thomas pointed out, is actually Never Use Futura Unless You Are ... followed by a long list of famous people, brands and organizations that do use the typeface. (A few of the notable Futura users, listed on the front and back of his book, include: Nike, Fox News, Ikea, Vanity Fair, Politico, Forever 21 and In-N-Out.) “I’m hoping to poke a little fun at that sort of conversation - designers can say, ‘oh, the masses shouldn’t use Futura, but we can, in these ways,’” he added.

Want to know more? Read Never Use Futura by Douglas Thomas