On SFnal typefaces
Over at Jay Lake's blog I responded to a thoughtful post from Abi Sutherland regarding the evolution of type, and how that aspect of life is not reflected in books purporting to demonstrate the future.
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Here is what I said:
I feel exceptionally well qualified to comment on the use of SFnal (or not) typefaces to show alien cultures and languages, since I've designed literally hundreds of SF/F books for two major SF publishers.
What it boils down to is this: the book may be representing future or alien societies, but it's being published now. And whether it's in the midlist or a lead title, the publisher is not content to try to sell it just to SF wonks who might be attracted by some creative use of type; they're hoping to sell it to everyone, including people who are new to the genre, and might not react enthusiastically to a lot of alien typefaces.
More importantly, no one has either the budget or the time to dick around with cool typefaces. Text designers love to go to new faces, but in a mass market environment--and even if the book is published in hardcover, it may still be a mass market environment--the emphasis is on getting the damn thing done and out the door.
For more than a decade I made a living designing paperbacks and hardcovers as an in-house designer (and later manager) for one of the Big Five. I designed, no shit, more than 100 books per year (on top of designing back ads, setting random pages for pick-up designs, and piles of other pre-press and design work). I had approximately 3 hours to design a typical book.
I imagine there are designers who have more time, but in a big-house jobbing environment, this is pretty standard. I'm a decent designer, but the reason I now get freelance work isn't because I'm the best, but because I'm fast. Sometimes I'm "on", and other times I'm just cranking out something with typefaces I'm very familiar with.
There are a dearth of good, readable SFnal typefaces. I had a much easier time finding handwriting fonts, from "bubbly" teenage-girl handwriting, to something that looks as if it came from a quill pen.
My default "email" typeface was always Futura, since it was readable and came in a variety of weights. My default "computer interface" typeface was always Russell Square--again, legibility outweighed other factors. I wasn't going to commission or create an all-new typeface; neither was I going to fall back on something obvious and dated such as OCR-A or the myriad faces emulating old-school calculators or low-pixel, green-on-black computer screens.
Future typefaces would be great, but the only typefaces we have available are ones created now or in the past. The best a designer can do is try to avoid the obvious.
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Continuing some thoughts (i.e., herewith changing topic to something not-entirely-unrelated):
In this regard, typefaces in the environment aren't any different than fashion. SF novels may make reference to clothes a bit, but how often is there a discussion? Today I also read this post by Sherwood Smith, wherein, among discussion of book fashion, she also mentions the radical shifts in clothing fashion that we see in history.
Just as with typefaces, the clothing of the future as depicted in SF is rather limited to either minimalism (jumpsuits!) or luxury of the past (Dune and The Chronicles of Riddick, which both are GORGEOUS, but have clear antecedents in history a hell of a lot closer to our time than the futures they depict).
Clothing in prose science fiction is given even shorter shrift. With the exception of Fremen stillsuits--which are defined by function, not fashion--can anyone tell me of SF books that deal extensively with clothing fashions? (I think Snow Crash might have a bit of this, but it's been years since I read it.)
Some of the problems with the future pf fashion, as seen from now, are that (a) most scientific gear is primarily functional, not a statement of power or position; (b) SF nerds are rarely in the same part of the Venn diagram with fashionistas; and (c) how often can specific clothing have anything to do with the story? Even in contemporary chick-lit and Regency historical romances, two genres that speak extensively about what people are wearing, the accessories and clothing are mostly a way to signal "yes, we did our research," rather than to create a world.
Which is not to say it shouldn't or couldn't be done, only that I can't think of anywhere it has been. Now that I think of it, a book set in the Fashion industry in the year 2350 might be really interesting. It could be called The Cyborg Wears Prada and center around the desire of a young human who at first spurns bioware but then slowly comes around to wanting more so she can fit into alien fashion.