Digital Kitsch
Worse than those misguided and patronising metaphors is the fact that publishers can no longer decide which typeface to set their text in. Apple provides just five (Baskerville, Cochin, Palatino, Times, Verdana), and only one of them (Palatino) can be considered a book face suitable for reading on a screen. Somehow, there seems to be a weird dichotomy between cool aluminium shapes, high-tech displays and amazing technology on the one hand, and wooden bookshelves on the other, as a metaphor for an online bookshop. Perhaps the design departments responsible should talk to each other? Or does Steve Jobs not have such great taste after all?
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Erik Spiekermann's critical view on digital typography.
