Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 74 posts

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#51

Post by matt4077 »

ssadler wrote: post #26
toyg wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don’t have a legal way. FTFY

We have a technical method to do so, but the site has not been created, that I know of. For example: * A domain name like ipfs://nytimesmirror.com that mirrors nytimes articles (at the same relative URLs) * Some kind of crowdsourced process for content curation. I'm aware that it's not legal, but I wouldn't be against it. Content piracy has been a catalyst for change. I simultaneously would be willing to pay nytimes…

> Content piracy has been a catalyst for change.

Yet paying for content has been a catalyst for...content.

> they might be incentivized to problem solve that for me.

What is that even supposed to mean?

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#54

Post by jejones3141 »

kupaka wrote: post #47
jejones3141 wrote: post #6

Oops... they either let Kumo II slip in or intended it to be there as an example of Mistral, the other font from the designer of Choc, and forgot to point that out.

The "Japanese Cusine" below the shop name is the specimen, not the shop name itself.

Aha... thanks!

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#55

Post by evrydayhustling »

matt4077 wrote: post #49
theoh wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know HN is kind of a safe space for engineers to express their (sometimes arrogant or poorly informed) opinions about other people's fields. But this seems over-the-top. Who are these "ridiculous" people in New York, whose grasp of the situation around why this particular font ever came to be used in NY signage is so laughably feeble and inferior to the commenter's own? There may be no mystery worth solving, but ne…

I think these comments' arguing over the "mystery" isn't necessarily the problem... It's that people can apparently read a lavish, deeply-researched article, yet are incapable of discussing it in terms other than its headline. So they are somewhat right, obviously. And the article comes to the same conclusion[0]. But those that consider this narrow answer as in any way central to the article suffer from some fundamen…

I have nothing against the article, but I don't think you have to be superficial to see a bait and switch. The article trades throughout on the idea that Choc is a cultural touchstone in NYC, but the closest it comes to investigating that is quotes from one shopkeeper. There's a brief with a signmaker who doesn't admit an association with Choc, and then a lot of typographers.

This approach frustrates me in other media - it's especially common in podcasts. Sometimes the author finds something that interests them, but ultimately feels they have to sell the story with a different hook.

I wish authors would instead take it as a challenge to get other people invested in what captivated them. For example, the story could have pretty easily owned the obvious Asian restaurant association up front, but deliberately explored the font origins anyway (and maybe more specifically in that context).

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#56

Post by wtian2000 »

Interestingly, this hiring ad from the JS console :-)

main.js:14 0000000 000 0000000 111111111 11111111100 000 111111111 00000 111111111111111111 00000 000000 000 1111111111111111111111111100000 000 000 1111 1111111111111111100 000 000 11 0 1111111100 000 000 1 00 1 000 000 00 00 1 000 000 000 00000 1 000 00000 0000 00000000 1 00000 11111 000 00 000000 000 11111 00000 0000 000000 00000 00000 000 10000 000000 000 0000 000 00000 000000 1 000 000 000000 10000 1 0 000 000 1000000 00 1 00 000 000 1111111 1 0000 000 000 1111111100 000000 000 0000 111111111111111110000000 0000 111111111 111111111111100000 111111111 0000000 00000000 0000000

NYTimes.com: All the code that's fit to printf() We're hiring: developers.nytimes.com/careers

update: Those 0s and 1s formed an ascii-art style nytimes logo. The format is messed up.

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#57

Post by tschwimmer »

rebolek wrote: post #25
kazinator wrote: post #11

Almost all the shops in the sign photos are Asian. Because the font simulates brush strokes, it adds an Asian element, since Western writing doesn't use brush strokes. Brushes may be used in painting letters onto a sign, but only as a tool to fill an area, whereby brush marks are regarded as artifacts to be avoided. The font doesn't look quirky to someone whose native writing system's canonical form is rooted brush s…

Exactly, it's not very mysterious, it looks like kanji and that's why it's used by Asian restaurants. Case solved.

Unfortunately they can't publish the GP's (convincing) comment in the New York times.

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#58

Post by Baeocystin »

vanderZwan wrote: post #5
ChuckMcM wrote: post #2

Looks like Comic Sans to me :-)

Obviously you're not a golfer.. I mean typographer :P I can see why it might remind an untrained eye of Comic Sans, but I strongly disagree. Then again, I have an arts degree, so let's chalk that up to déformation professionnelle . The funny thing about Comic Sans is that you can see that it is from the nineties computer era. Although I don't know if it was first created on paper and then transferred, or created dire…

Is there a book/resource you would recommend to someone who is interested in learning more about typography, and how/why the field has evolved the way it has? (Honest question.)

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#59

Post by smcl »

There's a font I'm curious about, I wonder if anyone here knows it. I seem to see all round Czech Republic, I don't know the name, but you can see it in the sign for this place (the pic outside - "BUN CA HAI PHONG"): https://www.tripadvisor.cz/Restaurant_Review-g274714-d116867...

It's used a lot in Vietnamese restaurants but also appears in random businesses (garages, hairdressers). I also saw it a lot when I visited Vietnam - I'd guess it's from there.

Re: A Mystery Font That Took Over New York

#60

Post by needle0 »

Ironically, come over to Japan and you will hardly see a single sign typeset in Choc, or any of the popular wonton fonts[1], anywhere. This is despite the fact Latin text is very commonly used in JP storefronts as decorative elements. The collective impressions around those fonts represent a westerner's orientalist stereotype of the East, not of the actual East. To an Asian native, it comes off as cheesy as hell.

I usually find most complaints of cultural appropriation frivolous; go ahead and dress up as ninjas or wear kimonos all you like, we don't care! But this in particular keeps bugging me somewhat, as hardly anyone - even the writer of this article - seems to care about that angle much. Even in the logo for Disney's Big Hero 6[2], which I assume was supposed to be Disney's love letter to JP pop culture, wonton font influences die hard. (At least they de-wontonned the logo for the Japanese release, retitled as "Baymax."[3])

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonton_font

[2] https://vgboxart.com/resources/logo/8390_big-hero-6-prev.png

[3] http://www.lightweight.tokyo/3ds/baymax_hero/images/catch/lo...

Post reply on HN