USPS Redesign

#1

Post by idan » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 11:18 AM UTC

Re: USPS Redesign

#2

Post by jrockway » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 11:31 AM UTC

It is quite bold and certainly makes an impression. If the post office looked like this, I think I would be confused for a few seconds as I wondered how I accidentally stepped into a personality-infused government building.

That said, I find this font incredibly hard to read; it almost feels like it's not English, and my brain has to work extra-hard to form words from the pixels on the screen.

Re: USPS Redesign

#3

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 11:43 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: USPS Redesign

#4

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 11:52 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: USPS Redesign

#5

Post by quink » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 11:54 AM UTC

Before even looking at this, I predict Gotham.

Edit: It's painfully slow to load, but it seems I was right.

Re: USPS Redesign

#6

Post by sp332 » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 12:01 PM UTC

It's slow to load now, so if it goes down, here's an archive http://web.archive.org/web/20140703023941/http://grand-army....

I agree with jrockway that the "Knockout" font is a little hard to follow. The eagle at the end looks... cool, but unnecessarily violent :p

Re: USPS Redesign

#7

Post by peterjmag » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 12:01 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #2

It is quite bold and certainly makes an impression. If the post office looked like this, I think I would be confused for a few seconds as I wondered how I accidentally stepped into a personality-infused government building. That said, I find this font incredibly hard to read; it almost feels like it's not English, and my brain has to work extra-hard to form words from the pixels on the screen.

I agree. It's almost painfully difficult in some places. I think the biggest problem here is the fact that everything is set in all caps, which is a pretty big typographic no-no.[1] The wide tracking and narrow characters of the secondary copy don't help either.

[1] http://typographyforlawyers.com/all-caps.html

Re: USPS Redesign

#8

Post by peterjmag » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 12:06 PM UTC

Looks like the server's getting hammered right now, so here's an article from Brand New about the redesign, with most of the same images:

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_reta...

Re: USPS Redesign

#9

Post by sp332 » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 12:07 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #4

[deleted]

I was assuming that this was a "portfolio project" but the USPS is actually listed as a client. http://web.archive.org/web/20140703023138/http://www.grand-a... (Linking to the archive so as not to pummel their server harder.) I think they realize that the design s going to change a lot by the time it actually gets rolled out, that's why they published the original, idealized version on their website.

Re: USPS Redesign

#10

Post by tonywebster » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 12:10 PM UTC

The two main typefaces are Knockout and Gotham, both being fonts from Hoefler & Co. — formerly Hoefler & Frere-Jones (H&FJ), until Jonathan Hoefler allegedly never gave Tobias Frere-Jones the equity stake he promised, eventually calling him just an employee[1].

Not only do I think is Hoefler & Co. a terrible company under Hoefler's leadership for that unethical move, the company has refused for the longest time to support web fonts using @font-face — now they partially support it, but only using their proprietary hosting platform, which is just setting a bad precedent for the open web.

There are plenty of small foundries producing high-quality typefaces, with @font-face friendly licensing for webfonts. Can we please stop using Hoefler fonts and supporting this guy?!

[1] http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/17/5318206/hoefler-and-frere-...