Almost all the shops in the sign photos are Asian. Because the font simulates brush strokes, it adds an Asian element, since Western writing doesn't use brush strokes.<p>Brushes may be used in painting letters onto a sign, but only as a tool to fill an area, whereby brush marks are regarded as artifacts to be avoided.<p>The font doesn't look quirky to someone whose native writing system's canonical form is rooted brush strokes.<p>Basically this remark in the article nails it:<p>> <i>This could have to do with what Choc evokes. For some it bears a resemblance to the calligraphic forms of Asian writing systems.</i><p>But then:<p>> <i>However, it’s disputed as to whether Choc was a direct homage to these styles. According to Ms. Chamaret, José Mendoza, Excoffon’s assistant at the time of Choc’s production, said that the letterforms were drawn in outlines. “Never with a brush!” she said.</i><p>That hardly counts as an effective dispute. Obviously, the font painstakingly captures the appearance of brush strokes in exactly the same manner that Asian fontographers do in certain fonts. They also don't use brushes, but rather vector graphics: precisely specified outlines or strokes.<p>Choc is undeniably Asian influenced. Look at the C in Choc; it starts with a little right tick and then reverses. The roman letter C doesn't have anything like that; this is reminiscent of the top stroke in the Japanese こ (ko).
> <i>“There’s an unmistakable energy in all the designs that [Roger Excoffon] does,” said Tobias Frere-Jones, a Brooklyn-based typeface designer. “They project their personality so clearly. And it’s very obviously not Helvetica or not Times or any other generic thing that might be on the awning next door.” Excoffon’s most popular typeface is probably Mistral, which was modeled after his own handwriting.</i><p>Both this passage and Exofon's fonts remind me of Henry van der Horst, a Dutch graphic designer who basically has a monopoly on Dutch market signs. His work has become so ubiquitous that a market stall without it feels less "authentic", so there is a lot of demand for his work.<p>It's crazy: <i>everyone</i> here knows his handwriting, without knowing it was one man doing all of those signs for decades, and when I say "all those signs" I mean that at a national level (altough the Netherlands is small of course). He's like a weird kind of anonymous household name ("anonyfamous?"). Well, until a newspaper wrote an article about him down a few years ago, that is.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.willemverweijen.nl/henry-van-de-horst/" rel="nofollow">http://www.willemverweijen.nl/henry-van-de-horst/</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.volkskrant.nl/mensen/-op-de-markt-doet-niemand-aan-jargon-~bc16a6f6/" rel="nofollow">https://www.volkskrant.nl/mensen/-op-de-markt-doet-niemand-a...</a>
Ironically, come over to Japan and you will hardly see a single sign typeset in Choc, or any of the popular wonton fonts[1], anywhere. This is despite the fact Latin text is very commonly used in JP storefronts as decorative elements. The collective impressions around those fonts represent a westerner's orientalist stereotype of the East, not of the <i>actual</i> East. To an Asian native, it comes off as cheesy as hell.<p>I usually find most complaints of cultural appropriation frivolous; go ahead and dress up as ninjas or wear kimonos all you like, we don't care! But this in particular keeps bugging me somewhat, as hardly anyone - even the writer of this article - seems to care about that angle much. Even in the logo for Disney's Big Hero 6[2], which I assume was supposed to be Disney's love letter to JP pop culture, wonton font influences die hard. (At least they de-wontonned the logo for the Japanese release, retitled as "Baymax."[3])<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonton_font" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonton_font</a><p>[2] <a href="https://vgboxart.com/resources/logo/8390_big-hero-6-prev.png" rel="nofollow">https://vgboxart.com/resources/logo/8390_big-hero-6-prev.png</a><p>[3] <a href="http://www.lightweight.tokyo/3ds/baymax_hero/images/catch/logo.png" rel="nofollow">http://www.lightweight.tokyo/3ds/baymax_hero/images/catch/lo...</a>
This font is also known as Staccato 555.<p>It was ripped off by Bitstream and included in the Bitstream TrueType Font Pack for Microsoft Windows 3.1<p>For some information about these fonts see <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.fonts/y3BOdTKSgc0" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.fonts/y3BOdTKSg...</a>
See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonton_font" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonton_font</a>
There's a font I'm curious about, I wonder if anyone here knows it. I seem to see all round Czech Republic, I don't know the name, but you can see it in the sign for this place (the pic outside - "BUN CA HAI PHONG"): <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.cz/Restaurant_Review-g274714-d11686718-Reviews-Bistro_Hai_Phong-Brno_South_Moravian_Region_Moravia.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.tripadvisor.cz/Restaurant_Review-g274714-d116867...</a><p>It's used a lot in Vietnamese restaurants but also appears in random businesses (garages, hairdressers). I also saw it a lot when I visited Vietnam - I'd guess it's from there.
In case anyone wants to see the font in question and/or purchase and download a copy: <a href="https://www.fonts.com/font/itc/choc" rel="nofollow">https://www.fonts.com/font/itc/choc</a>
<i>Paul Boegemann was trained as one such sign painter — he is the proprietor of Paul Signs Inc., in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn — and has been in business for over 35 years.</i><p><i>“I learned how to hand letter signs and trucks,” Mr. Boegemann said. “We started with a simple pencil and paper. We designed what we wanted and used the styles we wanted and knew how to apply...”</i><p><i>Asked if he’s ever made a sign in Choc, Mr. Boegemann said: “This style is a ‘Bastard’ letter style.”</i><p>I like this guy :-D
Oops... they either let Kumo II slip in or intended it to be there as an example of Mistral, the other font from the designer of Choc, and forgot to point that out.
How is it that in 2018 with all the decentralised technologies that have been created we don’t have a simple way to mirror nytimes articles... perhaps on some kind of “permanent web”?
The article misses the obvious: the font resembles Asian brush strokes, and will be especially used for signage on Asian restaurants which are disproportionately represented in the examples.