SPE 370 Blog #3

“You’re like an industry standard classic, reliable. Okay, maybe a bit boring. But you don’t let the haters get you down- after all, you’ve still got plenty of friends who think you’re the best.”
As mentioned in the above quote, the font Helvetica can come across as classic and reliable. Helvetica is the font being used to write this blog. The font quiz told me I was a Helvetica font type. As odd as it seems, this font quiz seems to represent me well. I see myself as very reliable and I think others around me would say the same. I can sometimes be boring, and I am totally OK with that! I like my down time when I am capable of having it. I do see myself as classic in the sense that I am normal nineteen year old girl and an average college student. The last part of the quote says “you’ve still got plenty of friends who think you’re the best.” I couldn’t agree more with that statement. I have lots of friends and acquaintances and a few true best friends that will always have my back.
I believe the font Helvetica looks exactly like the first quote explained. It mentions the people who may use this font, like myself, are classic, reliable, and possibly boring. Classic, clean, modernized, are all words I believe fit in with the description of this font type. Which are similar to the description words used to describe the people who may use this particular font. This type isn’t as straightforward or plain as common fonts like Times New Roman. It also isn’t a crazy intricate font like other options out there. It is simply right in the middle and that is one of the reasons why I enjoy using it.
There are tons of different fonts one can choose when using Microsoft Word. The Helvetica website explains how important type/font may be when writing. “One may even say that typefaces and fonts have a certain personality.” This quote may hit a cord with one because unless one thinks about font a certain way it usually goes unnoticed or not thought about. Font is very important when dealing with type. The Helvetica website also states “type is saying things to us all the time. Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere.”

This image to the left shows how much detail goes into different fonts. The first typed sentence is indeed Helvetica font but the second sentence is not. To a person looking at this image the sentences look almost identical. Some find this fascinating and interesting.

The history of type dates back thousands of years. Many technologies and media outlets have been invented throughout the decades that have changed the type from its original form. East Asia was the birthplace of type and print. The earliest printed book is said to be a copy of the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, found in a Chinese temple. This dates back to 868 A.D. In China one would type using woodcuts which dates back to the fifth century A.D.
More recently in history, a man named Johannes Gutenberg changed type forever. Gutenberg invented the moveable type press in the 1440s. This invention made it somewhat easy to type and ultimately a faster pace process then used before.
Different font types can provoke different feelings in people. For instance this font type could make one feel curious or scared while this font type  may make one feel the text is romantic or some type of old scripture which could provoke an intrigued our interested emotion. People do not think about font every day. The text seems to be considered the most important part of a written script or paper. With that being said, one should take notice in fonts more often, as each one is different. Fonts can change how one views the text. The two different font types above is an example of just that.
In conclusion, learning about font from ancient Chinese writings, to the numerous font options one can choose today can be an intriguing topic. Writing, visuality, and the body can all come together with font.

To the right is a picture I found online. I thought it was funny so I decided to share it with you. I think it shows just how creative fonts and type can be and how they can even have a mind of there own! This image perceives Helvetica being suprior and bigger then Arial font. Also, by using punctuation marks along with letters can really make the letter have human like featers. For instance, Arial has a tear and Helvetica is wearing a crown like icon above it’s “head”.