https://archive.ph/mYRQX
(the site seems to eagerly load lots of large images, and a 500MB video)
The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
21–30 of 63 posts
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#22> Carve something into plastic, on the other hand, and it can survive decades. Substitute plastic for metal, and you just turned decades into centuries. "I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted."
I've been saying for years that future archaeologists will wonder at these mysterious emblems they dig up, generally associated with a large deposit of what was once highly refined iron, aluminium and copper. About half a metre wide and 11cm high, made of incredibly durable plastic obviously intended to last for centuries, if not millenia.
And they'll puzzle over the inscriptions, "G809 BGG", "R420 BRL", "RFS 131Y", "SJ12 EXW", "RE51 CUE" - this on some huge chunk of steel, easily three times as big as the rest, and so many others.
What could they mean?
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#23It's a pretty font and gives that instant retro look on keyboards for example. I've tried it on the computer with "Gorton Digital" and that's just terrible, I can't recommend it. The spacing/kerning is all wrong. Hoping someone takes on the project of making a nice digital font, potentially a mono-spaced one too.
I'm using National Park Typeface for my site and I kinda like it
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#24> Carve something into plastic, on the other hand, and it can survive decades. Substitute plastic for metal, and you just turned decades into centuries. "I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted."
I've been saying for years that future archaeologists will wonder at these mysterious emblems they dig up, generally associated with a large deposit of what was once highly refined iron, aluminium and copper. About half a metre wide and 11cm high, made of incredibly durable plastic obviously intended to last for centuries, if not millenia. And they'll puzzle over the inscriptions, "G809 BGG", "R420 BRL", "RFS 131Y",…
As a non-American, I don’t even understand today what that means. (And the website linked to isn’t loading, so I don’t have the context from that.)
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been saying for years that future archaeologists will wonder at these mysterious emblems they dig up, generally associated with a large deposit of what was once highly refined iron, aluminium and copper. About half a metre wide and 11cm high, made of incredibly durable plastic obviously intended to last for centuries, if not millenia. And they'll puzzle over the inscriptions, "G809 BGG", "R420 BRL", "RFS 131Y",…
As a non-American, I don’t even understand today what that means. (And the website linked to isn’t loading, so I don’t have the context from that.)
I believe those are car license plate numbers.
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#26> Carve something into plastic, on the other hand, and it can survive decades. Substitute plastic for metal, and you just turned decades into centuries. "I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted."
I thought it was 40K reference at first about certainty of steel
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been saying for years that future archaeologists will wonder at these mysterious emblems they dig up, generally associated with a large deposit of what was once highly refined iron, aluminium and copper. About half a metre wide and 11cm high, made of incredibly durable plastic obviously intended to last for centuries, if not millenia. And they'll puzzle over the inscriptions, "G809 BGG", "R420 BRL", "RFS 131Y",…
As a non-American, I don’t even understand today what that means. (And the website linked to isn’t loading, so I don’t have the context from that.)
License plates vary between countries but this description should be recognisable to most of the world.
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#28It's a pretty font and gives that instant retro look on keyboards for example. I've tried it on the computer with "Gorton Digital" and that's just terrible, I can't recommend it. The spacing/kerning is all wrong. Hoping someone takes on the project of making a nice digital font, potentially a mono-spaced one too.
List of digitized versions: https://webonastick.com/fonts/routed-gothic/
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#29The site is killing my brave browser. Maybe long thin transoceanic paths, or phase of the moon. So many partially loaded images. But definitely worth the wait. A great read. I liked the almost mimetic quality of "which slightly broken font plate is being reused to make the broken "3" I keep seeing" which is a classic detective novel trope, e.g. Lord Peter Whimsey in "strong poison" and a typewriter glitch he recognis…
I think my ad blocker was the problem. Disabling it didn't turn it into the fastest website in the world—the images loaded in about 15 seconds—but that was a lot better than the never loading I was getting before disabling it.
Re: The hardest working font in Manhattan (2025)
#30Funny, I'd actually noticed that this font was knocking around in various places, particularly in American media, without giving it too much conscious thought. Although I had decided that I liked it. It's very 60s, mechanical, tactile, and almost cute in its ignorance of typography rules that would come to be unquestionable. It's nice to put a name to the font.