A Font to Remember
Wes Anderson is to Futura as Woody Allen is to...
If you said "Windsor," you are not only correct, you are as big a
font-nerd as I am. If you were to ask a fan of Wes Anderson to
describe the font he uses in the opening credits of his films,
they'd probably say it's "bold" or "round" possibly even
"geometric". Few could actually name it but most could describe it.
It's amazing to me how many people notice things like that without
really noticing them.
The same goes for Woody Allen's use of Windsor. Allen has used
Windsor in the opening credits of every one of his films since
Annie Hall. People may describe Windsor as "classic" or "elegant"
but even fewer could name it. I love the way great artists have a
natural inclination for all things artistic, typography included.
More so, I love the way it makes a subtle but lasting impression on
the people who experience their work.
Now that Web standards for HTML fonts are expanding beyond Arial,
Times and Verdana, highly usable, SEO-friendly site experiences
with custom fonts are becoming the new standard. I encourage more
brands to take ownership of the fonts that define their aesthetic
on the internet the same way Wes & Woody do in their
films.
One other geeky pop culture side note: Windsor is also the typeface
used on every single Garbage Pail Kids trading card...but not in
the movie. I'm sure you can guess which one of the two can be found
packed away in a box somewhere in the basement of most kids who
grew up in the 80's.