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Airbnb's new typeface

airbnb.design

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Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#51

Post by jrs95 »

tomc1985 wrote: post #43
baal232 wrote: post #23

I liken this to a hotel that decides to make their own lightbulbs. Or a department store that produces it's own bespoke cash registers. You can't argue that typography is so vital to their business that this is a useful allocation of resources. Obviously, design is important to any company that markets itself in some way. But not every company designs their own typeface (although it seems like it, lately.) Some are s…

This is as much about designers and egoists jerking themselves off in the service of a new 'corporate identity' as it is about a meaningful evolution in image.

Basically this: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G5-A2dk71xQ/maxresdefault.jpg

Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#52

Post by jacobolus »

baal232 wrote: post #23

I liken this to a hotel that decides to make their own lightbulbs. Or a department store that produces it's own bespoke cash registers. You can't argue that typography is so vital to their business that this is a useful allocation of resources. Obviously, design is important to any company that markets itself in some way. But not every company designs their own typeface (although it seems like it, lately.) Some are s…

Having stayed in various hotels (including expensive ones) which used atrocious lightbulbs, I would’t mind if some of them decided to choose lightbulbs more carefully.

Manufacturing might be a bit overboard, as that takes running a factory, but if a hotel wanted to partner with an existing lightbulb factory to commission lightbulbs matching the hotel’s spec, that might be a nice feature.

In the case of lightbulbs, they could probably find something available off the shelf which matched whatever reasonable spec they might develop. But for a large hotel chain, ordering custom lightbulbs probably wouldn’t break the bank.

* * *

Helvetica is an awful typeface for anything but posters, logos, and headlines. Please never use Helvetica for body copy.

Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#53

Post by baal232 »

jacobolus wrote: post #52
baal232 wrote: post #23

I liken this to a hotel that decides to make their own lightbulbs. Or a department store that produces it's own bespoke cash registers. You can't argue that typography is so vital to their business that this is a useful allocation of resources. Obviously, design is important to any company that markets itself in some way. But not every company designs their own typeface (although it seems like it, lately.) Some are s…

Having stayed in various hotels (including expensive ones) which used atrocious lightbulbs, I would’t mind if some of them decided to choose lightbulbs more carefully. Manufacturing might be a bit overboard, as that takes running a factory, but if a hotel wanted to partner with an existing lightbulb factory to commission lightbulbs matching the hotel’s spec, that might be a nice feature. In the case of lightbulbs, th…

Agreeed on Helvetica. I was just using it as an example of a typeface that's popular in branding despite it's ubiquity. But I'd never set body copy in helvetica. The letters are hard to distinguish at small sizes.

Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#54

Post by baal232 »

haberman wrote: post #41
baal232 wrote: post #23

I liken this to a hotel that decides to make their own lightbulbs. Or a department store that produces it's own bespoke cash registers. You can't argue that typography is so vital to their business that this is a useful allocation of resources. Obviously, design is important to any company that markets itself in some way. But not every company designs their own typeface (although it seems like it, lately.) Some are s…

Why do you presume to say what AirBnB "should not" do? You get to run your business according to your priorities, as does AirBnB's CEO. > Plenty of successful companies managed to create a distinct brand identity using helvetica. You could use this logic to criticize basically any company expenditure as frivolous. Plenty of companies do things that probably aren't strictly necessary for their survival. I for one am g…

> Why do you presume to say what AirBnB "should not" do? You get to run your business according to your priorities, as does AirBnB's CEO.

If we followed your reasoning, most CEOs would be immune from criticism.

I, on the other hand, have a different rule of thumb. If a company does something in public, it's fair game for the public to talk about it.

>You could use this logic to criticize basically any company expenditure as frivolous.

I hope not! That's not my intention. I'm just refuting the idea that branding requires a unique typeface.

The reason this is frivolous is because the company's core business is in writing the app and matching vacationers with short term rentals. Designing a typeface seems unrelated to their core business, and is probably best left to someone else, while they focus on what they're good at.

Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#55

Post by baal232 »

brailsafe wrote: post #39
asfasgasg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd actually be moderately surprised if there were no extant hotel companies that have commissioned a typeface. They might not have bragged about it, and you might not have heard about it, but it's not like it's an unthinkable thing to do.

Hilton's: https://befonts.com/hilton-typeface.html

It doesn't say anywhere on the page that Hilton commissioned that typeface. Could just be named Hilton. Can't find a source anywhere else, either.

Can you provide a source that Hilton commissioned it?

Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#56

Post by rhizome »

jrs95 wrote: post #49
rhizome wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be cheaper than licensing other fonts Can it? How many people-hours went into this, and which fonts have higher licensing costs than that?

It's definitely not cheaper than using free fonts. Or even modifying an existing one -- it's not as if Airbnb's exclusive use of this font is going to benefit them in any measurable way. Even if that were necessary, it seems like they should have just paid Netflix to use their font, and maybe make some changes, rather than working with Dalton Maag to make damn near the same thing.

I mean, what's the most expensive commercial font license? Neue Helvetica is $350/yr/cpu.

Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#57

Post by krsdcbl »

brailsafe wrote: post #36
krstffr wrote: post #12

Dalton Maag probably had a pretty good 2018 so far: https://twitter.com/kodform/status/996447044100386816?s=21

Yep. Those look almost identical.

Look again: a, f are pretty different, proportions differ all over (see O), and the author of the tweet clearly hid the tapered & much wider aperture of the Airbnbs e behind the image.

Type design is a subtle thing - they are clearly similar, but definitely not identical

Re: Airbnb's new typeface

#60

Post by brailsafe »

baal232 wrote: post #55
brailsafe wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hilton's: https://befonts.com/hilton-typeface.html

It doesn't say anywhere on the page that Hilton commissioned that typeface. Could just be named Hilton. Can't find a source anywhere else, either. Can you provide a source that Hilton commissioned it?

My mistake. I confused it with "SimpleJoys" which they're using all over their website. SimpleJoys oddly enough can only be downloaded from the official Hilton Dropbox account.

Edit: In a bit of an ancillary note, it looks like they are serving the font directly from their wp-content folder as a static asset. This might indicate that they either came to own it or commissioned it.

http://resorts.hiltonbusinessonline.com/wp-content/themes/hi...

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