Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sans serif

Like many people, I got my first look at the 9/11 memorial today - on the internet, of course. What I especially like about it is the sans serif typeface, which is simple and on the heavy side, but with good balance. I find it impressive. I've googled up and down but can't find the name of it. I did find a lot of other information, including how the names are arranged using algorhythmics - by relationship, and/or location. That was a great idea.

Look at this kid doing an etching of the engraving of his father's name. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was how I used to do those etchings on old gravestones. And then it struck me that that memorial is his father's gravestone.

I'm looking forward to visiting the memorial in October. If anyone figures out the typeface before then, tip me off.

8 comments:

Jeff said...

Hey Sarah -
Closest I could come was to find an article about C&G Partners in NYC that was developing a unique typeface for the memorial plates at the site.

Article here:

http://tinyurl.com/6e72644

Because I am as curious as you about things like this, I dropped them a note to see if they could shed any light.

Will let you know...

And thank you for using the nomenclature (typeface) in the correct context!

- Jeff

SarahJane said...

That's so cool that the typeface would be developed just with the site in mind. Thanks Jeff! I would really like to know what it's called.

Deb said...

"These things look random, but are anything but," said Arad, who also had to decide what font to use for the lettering. He settled on Optima: "It has a bit of softness to it, but it's not mechanical."

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Q2EzUoM-pJ4J:enr.construction.com/yb/enr/article.aspx%3Fstory_id%3D162839852+Michael+Arad+design+details+typeface+memorial&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Don't know if this report is true, but ... I have followed this news organization in the past and found them as reliable as far as my myopia can tell.

SarahJane said...

Hi Deb,
You know that's weird because I read it was not Optima somewhere. The Viet Nam Memorial uses Optima and it does look different. Maybe it's a variation?

Deb said...

Hmmm. I wonder if Communication Arts would have an accurate report. Perhaps Jeff will hear back.

It's an intriguing question.

Deb said...

Forgive me for obsessing, but I keep reading Optima, although what one reads is not always the truth.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/03/23/nyregion/23names-slideshow_12.html

SarahJane said...

If it's Optima, so be it! I'm really not an expert.

word verfication: oucho

Anonymous said...

I believe it's Optima Nova caps and small caps. Redesigned from the original by Hermann Zapf and released in 2003. http://bit.ly/papDM2

Related Posts with Thumbnails