The Typographic Legacy of Microsoft

Video Description

Microsoft isn't the first company you'd associate with typography, but their fonts have done more to democratize typesetting than any company in the last half century. Today we look at that history through 10 of their most famous and infamous fonts. 0:00 Microsoft's typographic legacy 0:54 What is typography? 3:57 Segoe UI (and Frutiger, Myriad) 8:13 Calibri 13:02 Core fonts for the Web 14:58 A history of Truetype fonts 18:37 Trebuchet MS 21:51 Georgia 25:01 Impact 27:18 Verdana (and Tahoma) 32:18 Comic Sans 34:35 The "OG" Truetype Trinity 35:15 Times New Roman 39:32 Courier New 41:52 Arial 44:42 A legacy which endures today First of all, just what is typography? #Typography is everything about written communication that's visual. On screen or off. As instruments are to musical performance, #fonts are to typography. While #Microsoft may not have pioneered all of the underlying technology like Truetype, or had the most original designs, their sheer market dominance meant that their influence was unavoidable through the era of the desktop pc. It’s easy to forget in 2020, that Microsoft was once considered the biggest of all big tech companies - and sued as monopoly under US anti-trust laws. For multiple decades nearly everything important in computing was either instigated by or was made in reaction to Microsoft. A video essay by https://timesnewboman.com/ Errata: The font listed as Recia is incorrect (the file was missing so what is shown on-screen is Lucida Grande) the correct font can be seen here (affiliate link for commercial font): https://www.dpbolvw.net/ns80ft1zt0GIHHILPIJIGILHKJNNN?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.myfonts.com%2Ffonts%2Findian-type-foundry%2Frecia%2F&cjsku=541700 Further resources: --- *Font format wars:* The Font Wars—PostScript, TrueType, the Mac and the success of desktop publishing by Typography Guru https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X9Dj7tBlkg&t=661s TrueType: The Digital Font Technology, lecture by Eliyezer Kohen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWs65Uejd4M --- Type Specimens - 1921 - Miller & Carter https://archive.org/details/printingtypespec00millrich *Screen-optimised Serif Body fonts* Merriweather (Free) https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Merriweather Bitter (Free) https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Bitter Recia (Commercial - NB: affiliate link) https://www.dpbolvw.net/ns80ft1zt0GIHHILPIJIGILHKJNNN?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.myfonts.com%2Ffonts%2Findian-type-foundry%2Frecia%2F&cjsku=541700 --- AMOLED vs IPS LCD vs Retina vs Infinity Display - Gary Explains Android Authority https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGTHAc_XwWc These Are Not Pixels: Revisited by Technology Connections https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea6tw-gulnQ --- Microsoft Bob Experience: Was It Really THAT Bad? - LGR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkU4WWEUj-Y --- *Metal type:* Monotype casting machine at Arion Press in San Francisco from Pino Trogu (Apologies I misspelled your name in the video)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjkMW_zgHzo Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu (the end of metal type at the New York Times) https://archive.org/details/FarewellEtaoinShrdlu --- The Farewell' Screenplay Breakdown: Lulu Wang Compares First To Final Drafts | Vanity Fair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_taWSzIaBYg --- TechAltar: Why Microsoft partners with rivals (Linux, PlayStation, Chromium, etc.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ClOsqIXv_0&t=301s --- Apologies to Brian Brushwood. ;) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC42VsoDtra5hMiXZSsD6eGg 🛒My YouTube Gear https://kit.co/timesnewboman/youtube-gear 🛒Amazing AI Upscaling https://topazlabs.com/ref/1205/ Music from Streambeats and Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/x9c4wb