Thursday 31 January 2008

The Use of Mozart

Helvetica is rightly deemed the typeface that best typifies modernism: it is bland and functional. Of its aesthetic qualities, others say otherwise:
The Helvetica Medium lower-case ‘a’ . . . is the most beautiful two-dimensional form ever designed. Its luxurious sensual curves are balanced by points of crisp tension. Its lovely counter makes me think of Mozart. [1]
The pretension is by-the-by, but what gets my goat is that the name of Mozart is doomed to suffer from its invocation by blighters wishing to impart the aura of aesthetic genius to ugliness and insipidity.

[1] Katherine McCoy, quoted by Ryan Bigge, “The Official Typeface of the 20th Century”, The Smart Set, 5th November 2007.

2 comments:

Sean Jeating said...

No nitpicking, Sir, just adding two contradictory quotations.

Mozart is the human incarnation of the devine force of creation. - Goethe

I write as a sow pisses. - Mozart

A devine sow then? :)

And now for something completely different: Almost always when dropping by, afterwards my horizon would be a bit widened. Thanks and: Chapeau.
Have a pleasant weekend.

James Higham said...

I've been thinking about this and have switched from Verdana to Bookman Old Style. Wonder what that says?