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Hahahahaha both of the above. Neither are horrible ...I just think they have been overused. I like the oddball ones. Posts: 3729 | From: Seattle | Registered: Sep 1999
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As a hand letterer, and a lefty to boot, I'd have to say that the Playbill style lettering drives me crazy... Every letter has all those little boxes as serifs, and each box must be meticulously painted with four sharp corners. Aughhh... And I have to use this letterstyle with my biggest customer, who uses it in his logo. The letters are approx. 2" tall, and there are 14 of these cursed letters with the box serifs at every end... aughhhh. I paint approx 30 semi trucks with this on it each year... You'd think I'd be good by now! When it comes to vinyl signs, I don't really care what letterstyle you use, as long as the design is pleasing.. and they rarely are. LE
-------------------- LazyEdna in RL known as Sara Straw from southern Utah 5 National Parks within 3 hours drive Red Rock Heaven Posts: 776 | From: Aurora, Utah, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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brush script....#1....every dingy who things they are in the sign business uses this font, why cause it looks like all the handpainted letters....and they cant paint so they imitate....old english all caps.."gang-stas" looks as stupid as they are...then the one that really gets me ...is when they(newbie with a cutter)use helvetica, in a small space, then stretch it vertically to fill the space....really looks BADDDDDDD...or puts a long word that should be 24" long squished down to fit in 10" long space. these people dont understand.."proportion".
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Have you ever tried to brush script brush script? As a letterer I don't like it because none of the forms in the lower case fit any brush style I know of. The caps are ok. I do use this in vinyl sometimes as I'm sure we all do.
My most disliked font is without a doubt Murray Hill.
And LE screw those square corners. Use a slightly rounded corner and it will go faster and even look a little better.
-------------------- Terry Teague James River Signs Reeds Spring, MO tlteague@tri-lakes.net
Posts: 434 | From: Reeds Spring | Registered: May 1999
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Terry, you beat me to the punch about doing brush script with a brush Akward dang letter style ain't it?
LE, try this on Playbill. Tape the top and bottom lines as you normally would. Then run two more lines of tape on the inner parts of the serifs. One below the top line and one above the bottom. Now paint all the serifs first. Pull the tape and paint the rest of the letters.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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One letterstyle that should NEVER be used on any sign is the one known in some font collections as "data". The letters are styled to look like the special numbers that appear on the bottom of cheques. They were originally designed to be recognized by a data scanner, but certainly NOT the human eye. The negative spaces between the letters are so distorted by the weight variations in the downstroke of the letters, that it's almost impossible to read at a glance. It is truely a GROTESQUE letter...not to be confused with the Grotesque type family.
-------------------- Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail: kjmlhenry@rogers.com
Why do I get all those on-line offers to sell me Viagara, when the only thing hardening is my arteries ? Posts: 2689 | From: London,Ontario, Canada | Registered: Feb 1999
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Hellvertical!! As someone else said it makes one want to puke to see it jammed pushed and shoved where it shouldn't be. In the early days of 4A's, 4B's etc. when fonts cost 4500 each it was important to pick your font very miserly. Every person had Cooper Black as their choice of comic and boy have I seen some distortions done with that one. 25 degree slant 30% compression and spacing 150. One of my choices I bought was Tabasco which I really loved using but isn't it funny how things change, I haven't used it since.
-------------------- Drane Signs Sunshine Coast Nambour, Qld. dranesigns@bigpond.com Downunder "To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer" Posts: 965 | From: Nambour, Qld. Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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Murray Hill bold, looks like a spider crawling across the sign. It was among the early Gerber fonts that got flogged to death along with helvetica and clarendon bold. They were the bad ol' days of $400 fonts with a limit of 8. Now of course we are in font heaven!
-------------------- Graham Hodge Cam River Signs Somerset, Tasmania. Posts: 441 | From: Somerset, Tasmania | Registered: Nov 1998
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These are always the first fonts that a customer will show me. If someone says that they already know what they want you can bet it will be listed above. I try to change the fonts in my list regularly, but the knuckleheads always want the same old crap.
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Squire. Not because its ugly, just because I had a customer that I did ticketwriting for and they used it exclusively. Try penning a few thousand point of sale tickets for a true loathing of a typeface. David
-------------------- David Fisher D.A. & P.M. Fisher Services Brisbane Australia da_pmf@yahoo.com Trying out a new tag: "Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth Peter Ustinov Posts: 1450 | From: Brisbane Queensland Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Maker of fine signs and other creative stuff. Located at 109 N. Cumberland ave. Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-837-0242 Posts: 4172 | From: Ages-Brookside, Ky. Up the Holler... | Registered: Jul 1999
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Use TAPE? BLASPHEMY! I do tape the tops and bottoms.. after all.. we're talking 14 2" letters here... I can paint those suckers in about 12 minutes now... 12 minutes per side. And dance while I'm doin' it! LE
-------------------- LazyEdna in RL known as Sara Straw from southern Utah 5 National Parks within 3 hours drive Red Rock Heaven Posts: 776 | From: Aurora, Utah, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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ANY letterstyle that was hand painted by some person who is now dead or out of business, and the customer needs THAT EXACT "letterstyle" reproduced...In vinyl
Scripts are easy to reproduce but formal styles are tough to "reproduce" when most of the time they are a combination of several styles, or are done with a "twist".
Sorry, a computer guy talking here!
As far as regular letterstyles..Brush Script is the one I avoid at all costs.
Oh yeah..Handel Gothic when trying to spell the word "FLICKS"!!!!!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
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I absolutely hate brushscript. Not meaning to jump on the bandwagon, but i hate it. It is so overused, and I see it everywhere I go. I used to always point it out to my girlfriend, but she got sick of it and told me to stop or she would break up with me (just kidding, of course... i think ). I have even seen national brands using brushscript, like some decently large brand of jeans, though I forget which at the moment. Who the hell are some people getting to design their logos, anyway?
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They say confession is good for the soul, well I'm gonna own up . When I was 18 I "discovered" Old English, thought it was the most beautiful thing ever. Later on after I became a sign painter another sign painter turned me on to letraset and projectors for layouts. I used brush script more than once. I was also taken with Murry Hill Bold ( an oxymoron if there ever was one ) I liked University Roman so much I used it on my truck and business cards along with Playbill. When I worked in a production commercial shop I prided myself on rendering Helvetica style instead of the more common signpainters gothic. There I feel much better now Maybe it's something about first impressions, familiarity or maybe just plain ignorance that makes these styles so overworked.
Before you send the villagers out with torches after me I don't use any of these any more, but I still think Helvetica is fun to letter.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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with so many fonts available for download online peoples handwriting have become fonts. As a font designer and sign person I hate thick and thin fonts that have the thicks and thins mixed up. As for Helvetica... ahhh... poor old Helvetica, it's not that it is a bad font, it is a very well designed font and is exceptionally readable, its just that it is misused and over used, same for Old English like George said it is a beautiful letterstyle but because everybody has butchered it and misused it, now it has been outcast, shunned by the design commuity. I am just glad nobody has listed Boston Truckstyle, whew!
-------------------- Ken McTague, Concept Signs 57 Bridge St. (route 107) Salem MA 01970 1-978-745-5800 conceptsign@yahoo.com http://www.pinheadlounge.com/CaptainKen
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"A wise man once said that, or was it a wise guy?" Posts: 2425 | From: Salem, MA | Registered: Apr 1999
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Ohhh.. and brushscript was my favourite! So stylish! So different! *hehehehehe* weeeelll.. maybe not. I don't have a worst, or, really a favourite.. more a bunch of favourites, and a few ones that I avoid.
However.. a pet peeve is badly kerned lettering. AND lettering going like
H I
and it is a fone with wide letters such as W, coming just before or after an I, or otherwise. And using some fonts it is HORRIBLE, not just bad, I'm talking bloody awful.
ah well.. mine! *smile* Seeya!
-------------------- From Kat Johnston (previously Katie Wright, for those who can remember that far back)
Posts: 530 | From: Brisbane, Australia | Registered: Feb 1999
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We have this one typestyle called Slipstream. The absolute worst to weed. As for overused and downright ugly....times new roman gets my vote...just cuz you can use it in Word does not make it pretty.
-------------------- Garrick Crocker Absolute Signs and Printing 20372 E. Pennsylvania Ave, Suite G Dunnellon, FL 34432 352-489-2407 asap@digitalusa.net Posts: 17 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2001
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Akward dang letter style ain't it?
). I have even seen national brands using brushscript, like some decently large brand of jeans, though I forget which at the moment. Who the hell are some people getting to design their logos, anyway?
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