You had me at “popcorn”…

Ok, so popcorn only comes into it at the end. But you catch my drift.

Thank you, The Auteurs, for your charming (and helpful) email.

The Aura of Type: Swissified

Objectified by Selectism on Vimeo.

Gary Hustwit’s second feature gets its world premiere next month.

Here’s the official blurb:

“Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our relationship to manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them… It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability.”

His debut, Helvetica, examined the proliferation of the world’s most loved (loathed?) typeface. Pundits showed a mixture of reverence and disdain.

That film could be the end of an aura.

I keep thinking about Walter Benjamin in this new age of mechanical reproduction. When repro is at the amateur’s fingertips, how can the aura of quality – or authenticity – transmit itself?

Credit to Anyone Can Swiss for hitting the question head on with their patented “Swissification” technology – an automated Helvetica poster generator.

Built in Dan Eatock‘s modish Indexhibit, Anyone Can Swiss throws Helvetica to the amateur with a guarantee of 100% satisfaction. Ha ha!

Here’s a video of their submissions from 4 February:

Left me with a hankering for more typefaces and sent me at a tangent.

Shouldn’t copywriters be trained in typography?

Typefaces are central to the “unique existence” of words. I don’t see why we’re forced to separate the content and the form.

It will only make the work more reproduceable.

Previous type chatter:

– Break your eyes with Optica Normal.

– DIY fonts in Fonstruct.

– Making words shout louder.

Writing for Play Time

Meant to share this a long time ago but I foolishly moved flat and left my internet behind.

I’ve been writing for a microsite all day and trying to get system language out of my head. Because it’s not how people speak, and it can take the fun out of playing with a website.

This is a slideshow by Erika Hall, co-founder of Mule Design Studio (via PSFK).

I think she hits several nails on their different shaped heads. Think of the websites you enjoy visiting most. You don’t even notice the interface language – it’s all part of the place’s personality. You’re playing, and you’re in conversation.

When it feels like a machine’s barking at you, you know you’re in the wrong place. And chances are you’ll leave pretty quickly. So the writer’s challenge? Help people play better.

What is Analogue Cheese?

Not a question I expect to be asking myself on a Sunday night.

But browsing the freezer of your nearest cornershop tends to leave you with a basketful of questions. Or, at worst, spectacularly poor answers.

This San Marco pizza presented the answer to a question I never dreamt I’d ask. What is analogue cheese?

“Deep pan pizza topped with analogue cheese, reformed ham, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.”

You can add another question to that list. Who are San Marco pizza? They were offloaded by Heinz in 2003 and picked up by Northern Foods sometime after that. The rest is mystery.

But Google analogue cheese and you get a quick, cheery answer:

[Update: European Foods appear to have cleaned up this page since I took the screengrab.]

“Cutting your costs, building your profits”? That sounds a bit like industry salespeak now, doesn’t it…

Delightfully, it is. Not only do companies seem bound to state analogue cheese as an ingredient on their packaging, but muppets are running their online shop.

The manufacturer might want to “emulate cheese” and “imagine the savings!”, but the consumer will do a little sick in the back of their mouth at the sight of this thinly-stretched masquerading imposter.

And it’s top of the SEO pops for the term ‘analogue cheese’.

A victory for online transparency?

Or does it just beg another question – what is digital cheese?

More Bad Language: Dogs Down the Sh*tter; P*ssed Kids Film Drivers; Give Chihuahuas A Little F*cking Respect.