IBM Plex – A new typeface • Hacker News Board

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#151

Post by Digital-Citizen » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 3:05 AM UTC

forgotmypw wrote: post #76

seibelj wrote: post #18

From my experience dealing with IBM, I can only imagine this was the result of 5 different consulting teams, assisted by 3 different outsourced development groups, which was delayed numerous times, then Watson was added, and then a re-org caused by layoffs, which finally resulted in a website that couldn't scroll and caused the CPU of my high-end laptop to scream...

Luckily, it's just blank without JS, so I was able to move on quickly.

I concur.

I'm impressed with the number of people who think that JS on most people's webpages is a good idea. Or that any JS was necessary to announce this font. It wasn't and wasn't carried off well here (nothing for the no-JS crowd).

A far easier page to write up and one that would have looked better could have been done with nothing but HTML, CSS (demonstrating the font in real-world usage even), and perhaps some PNGs to show bitmaps of the font (useful for those who, wisely, don't load every font the page says to load).

https://github.com/IBM/plex has the free font.

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#152

Post by taeric » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 3:52 AM UTC

I just recently actually read my copy of Computer Modern. Between that and the METAFONT books, it is amusing how little of this is new. And those books didn't claim to be groundbreaking.

Regardless, neat article. It is interesting to get into the weeds of typography. For anyone this introduced to the topic, dive in, it is a wonderful subject!

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#153

Post by noobermin » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 4:12 AM UTC

Maxious wrote: post #92

krona wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed the most important part; it was initiated by a team of lawyers who were tipped off by another team who noticed the Watson design team were using a typeface on public websites which they didn't have the copyright to, and certainly didn't have the license to redistribute. Almost 2 years later, Plex was born. (This is a true story, by the way.)

"we are in the process of acquiring the rights and licensing for Helvetica Neue for IBM" [2015] https://github.com/IBM-Watson/design-guide/issues/120

I actually don't hate the typeface (plex) but this backstory is just bonkers

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#154

Post by jordaniusrex » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 5:08 AM UTC

mlazos wrote: post #103

chao- wrote: post #81

This is one of the most frustrating page navigation experiences I have had in long a while. I tend to scroll with pgup/pgdn or arrow keys (or more occasionally, space/shift+space) and when I got to the big "IBM" logo the page just kind of stopped. I thought that was all. It wasn't until I came to this thread I realized there was more, and I should look again, but even then it took me forever to: 1. Realize I needed t…

This reminded me exactly of that Dropbox design page at dropbox.design - it was the exact same frustrating experience. If this is a trend please make it stop.

Same agency http://www.xxix.co/

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#155

Post by int_19h » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 5:49 AM UTC

oneplusone wrote: post #99

seibelj wrote: post #18

From my experience dealing with IBM, I can only imagine this was the result of 5 different consulting teams, assisted by 3 different outsourced development groups, which was delayed numerous times, then Watson was added, and then a re-org caused by layoffs, which finally resulted in a website that couldn't scroll and caused the CPU of my high-end laptop to scream...

It sure looks like it was designed by committee. It is one of the ugliest typefaces I have ever seen and, having studied typography, I have seen some really shitty ones. What were they thinking with the f and r? This is Times New Roman all over again.

The square t also makes my eyes bleed.

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#156

Post by neotek » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 6:39 AM UTC

mlazos wrote: post #103

chao- wrote: post #81

This is one of the most frustrating page navigation experiences I have had in long a while. I tend to scroll with pgup/pgdn or arrow keys (or more occasionally, space/shift+space) and when I got to the big "IBM" logo the page just kind of stopped. I thought that was all. It wasn't until I came to this thread I realized there was more, and I should look again, but even then it took me forever to: 1. Realize I needed t…

This reminded me exactly of that Dropbox design page at dropbox.design - it was the exact same frustrating experience. If this is a trend please make it stop.

>dropbox.design

This is fucking mental, seriously.

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#157

Post by cup-of-tea » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 7:12 AM UTC

Ah, just what a I needed, a typeface that is "global".

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#158

Post by _Chief » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 7:44 AM UTC

chao- wrote: post #81

This is one of the most frustrating page navigation experiences I have had in long a while. I tend to scroll with pgup/pgdn or arrow keys (or more occasionally, space/shift+space) and when I got to the big "IBM" logo the page just kind of stopped. I thought that was all. It wasn't until I came to this thread I realized there was more, and I should look again, but even then it took me forever to: 1. Realize I needed t…

On mobile the the UI is just as bizzare; random horizontal lines, the page jumps for no reason, touch/scroll randomly stops working. It's takes talent to make website UX so uncomfortable

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#159

Post by Traubenfuchs » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 7:45 AM UTC

chao- wrote: post #81

This is one of the most frustrating page navigation experiences I have had in long a while. I tend to scroll with pgup/pgdn or arrow keys (or more occasionally, space/shift+space) and when I got to the big "IBM" logo the page just kind of stopped. I thought that was all. It wasn't until I came to this thread I realized there was more, and I should look again, but even then it took me forever to: 1. Realize I needed t…

How utterly horrifying.

It's also broken on my PC on Chrome, I need to scroll A LOT to advance the page...

Re: IBM Plex – A new typeface

#160

Post by Corrado » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 7:47 AM UTC

Looking at the character grid near the bottom of the page[0] you can see that they have created not one, not two, but three different ways to represent zero; empty middle, dot middle, slash middle. Is there any reason for this at all? How do you even select a particular glyph? Are they on a different codepage or something?

[0] https://www.ibm.com/plex/specs/