Curly Bracketology

via Typophile

Just as “CD” can mean one thing to a banker and quite another to a music-lover, so too, the term “brackets” can have quite unrelated meanings to different people.

For example, I travel in circles where “brackets” are simply typographic characters. They come in straight and curly varieties and vary from typeface to typeface. 

But for most of the population, “brackets” is the diagram for the elimination tournament of the NCAA Basketball Championships. “March Madness,” as it’s called, (and which also has a whole other meaning), must be what happens when you watch 32 college teams play 67 games.

Far less lucrative to proprietors of sports bars, is the other “March Madness,” which occurs amongst European hares. The elimination tournament, which is especially frenzied during the month of March, is for the prize of mating with the doe, whose receptivity for breeding is limited to only a few hours during each of her six-week cycles.

A female will viciously fight off her suitors, giving them scarred ears. Hares have been observed to stand on their hind legs and hit each other with their paws, a practice known as "boxing" and this activity is usually between a female and a male and not between males as previously believed. When a doe is ready to mate, she will start a wild chase across the countryside, shaking off following males until only one remains. After this the female will stop and allow the remaining male to mate with her. Wikipedia

 

Why not try Book Antiqua?

Or you can pick a bracket style from the fabulous

Tor Weeks poster, A Field Guide to Typestaches.

Happy National Bracket Day!

(Whatever font you choose.)

Everyday Richness

This extraordinary “252” on the otherwise completely ordinary building caught my eye. I figured that while I had my camera out, I’d snap my way down the rest of the block.



















And this is just one side of the street.

Future Vintage: Eames Century Modern

My brochure from House Industries just arrived in the mail today. It introduces their new collection of fonts, Eames Century Modern. I like to imagine that some blogger, fifty years in the future, will be very excited to discover this at a flea market.

Vans of a Thousand Faces

It’s an age old question: How many fonts fit on the side of contractor’s vehicle?






p.s. For vehicular typography at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you must visit Jonathan Turner’s Autografik set on flickr, which is “dedicated to graphic design applied to motor vehicles. With a focus on modernist corporate identities of the 60's and 70's.”