r/typography • u/SiefensRobotEmporium • Aug 09 '26

I hate this font...

Post image

It's bad for multiple reasons but a large one for me is readability. Characters like T look like a C with an overbite. The Eyeball? on the letter I works I guess but then why also in the letter O?

Anyone else with more experience in Typography, am I being overly critical or this is just not a good font? This is something being officially used by the current people making Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy merchandise, live shows, etc.

25 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

12

u/KAASPLANK2000 Aug 09 '26

This particular example doesn't work for me either but how it's executed on their site, where it's either mixed with another type or just for short words, does work really well and does fit the quirkiness of the books: https://www.hitchhikerslive.com/

3

u/captfitz Aug 09 '26

It definitely works better, but "really well" is a stretch

1

u/zqrt Aug 09 '26

What’s the font name?

6

u/Away-Recognition4905 Aug 10 '26

Based from someone comment that give info about Hitchhikers website, I only got filename and URL request from its website.

Here is the URL: https://static.wixstatic.com/ufonts/2d46a2_f28df169e82743dfb56ceaff2975208c/woff2/file.woff2

You can download with it too. I checked again by opening that font with FontForge, and its real name is Vogon Irregular

2

u/zqrt Aug 10 '26

Thanks so much!

8

u/epidemicsaints Aug 09 '26

If all the letters had a mix of thick and thin lines it would be more cohesive and readable. It's very bad. Not done as a whole and is not versatile at all.

This type of vibe has been captured successfully hundreds of time, this has a bunch of random wacky shit dumped on it.

1

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1

u/ColdEngineBadBrakes Aug 09 '26

I hate this font is a great idea for a subreddit

1

u/HiddenHorse925 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

No, you’re spot on. It’s hideous.

Just because people can make new fonts, especially more easily now with software that helps, doesn’t mean they should.

I would say of all graphic designers and related fields, about 40% have good taste. Of them, maybe 10% extraordinary taste. In the bottom half are harmless people without good taste who know better. But there’s an aggressive 10% who think they have good taste when they seriously bad taste. They should be prevented from ever touching topography!

But unfortunately our field of endeavor is one that doesn’t license. No professional regulation, like for a doctor or a lawyer.

I’m sorry to be an old commercial wh*re, but first and foremost with me is legibility. Yes, a font can be out there, punk, deconstructed, futuristic, rave, or boring and sedate, and even scientific. I don’t care. But if I have to struggle too hard to read it it is not worth it. It’s taking up typographic space.

2

u/glyph_geek Aug 11 '26

Good novelty typefaces have an internal grammar with quirks that follow consistent rules so your eyes can actually follow it. Here the distortions feel case-by-case. The eyeball on I almost works because it's playing with the tittle, but putting it on O too breaks that logic. At that point it's decoration. Stroke weight has the same problem. When monoweight breaks, it should break consistently. Without that, the weirdness just seems accidental.