Tuesday, December 30, 2008

De(sigh)n.

The past couple weeks have been nothing short of glorious: No class, no work, and (virtually) no obligations. The holidays have provided a much-needed recharging, and the family time was long overdue. However, in the past three days, I've been exposed to some wretched things, and they all have one thing in common: Papyrus usage.

Let's review:

1) Pizza Hut's "The Natural" (not to be confused with this natural).













The first thing I noticed about Pizza Hut's latest TV ad was that it no
longer features the caption "not actors" while people are raving about how super awesome their pizza is. The second thing I noticed? The fugly Papyrus. Was it too hard to go to dafont.com and download something slightly less gross for free?

It's all over their website, too. Delicious!







2) Par Exsalonce. Uber-expensive, we-have-a-consultation-with-your-hair-before-we-cut-it kind of place.









Walking through the mall is already one of my least favorite things to do. The last thing I want is to feast my eyes upon this.

In their defense, Papyrus has been used to portray calmness, quality and serenity before.

3) This website. Joke or not, it did make me die a little inside.

Papyrus has been used to communicate a variety of things, including, but not limited to:
  • Anything involving nature, animals, Africa or the like
  • Peace and love
  • Wednesday night Bunko night
  • Longaberger Party!
  • Natural pizza, apparently
  • This is for charity
  • We sell high-end beauty supplies and give massages
  • You're invited to Felix & Ethel's Safari-themed 35th Wedding Anniversary + Potluck Dinner
  • I was too lazy to download a font, but I still want to look sophisticated
  • Religious themes
  • Religious themes + nature, animals, Africa and the like
I never thought a font could be so versatile, but Papyrus, you have proven me wrong. If nothing else, you at least manage to provide hope for me and my fellow classmates for our futures in the design profession. Keep on trucking, you ugly font, you...just not for national chains, okay?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

my tombstone shall read:

"he was many things but foremost, he was original." in papyrus font.

"p.s. he was also quite serious." in comic sans.

Anonymous said...

1. Thank you for the shout-out and linkage - you rock!
2. This, 5 Terrible Fonts That You Should Not Use In Print Design:
http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/article/5-terrible-fonts-that-you-should-not-use-in-print-design
3. Survivor. Yes THE Survivor tv show used it:
http://23firststreet.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/survivor_gabon_official_logo.png?w=468&h=305
As well as The Crocodile Hunter (RIP):
http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/article/5-terrible-fonts-that-you-should-not-use-in-print-design

Matt Davidson said...

I have no freakin idea how you ever found that jesus-lion link....

Matt Davidson said...

http://www.primitiveskillslinks.com/clothing.html