Century Gothic

It must be the curse of the designer that he/she must recognise typefaces anywhere and everywhere. There is so much signage, packaging and printed word to be silently critical of that not a day goes by where I don't think about type. As refreshing as it is to see a typeface used nicely to the benefit of the work, it is equally frustrating to see poor or unoriginal ideas littering the visual world. And while terribly inappropriate fonts may force a smile, possibly even a laugh, seeing the same type treated in the same way over and over again on countless products, signs and pages is just pure old fashioned murder.



Century Gothic is a nice clean sans serif with generous features that combine to give the type an edge. It is one of the fonts that I have always liked, and I'm sure that I cannot be the only one that appreciates its unique appearance. I'm also sure that I cannot be the only person to notice that it is used everywhere for everything often in the most tasteless of contexts and vile of layouts. Century Gothic has been abused by the talentless copycats for the purpose of 'this will do' work to the point where I am put off a product from the mere sight of it. For me, it has become a symbol of laziness, unoriginality and robotic mass production. The next Helvetica if it is not too bold to suggest. Century Gothic has been drained and drained until it has nothing left to give, and I fear that it no longer has a place in any of my future work.

OK... rant over. I guess that if you haven't noticed that Century Gothic is everywhere, a walk down the local shop's tin aisle, or a glance at today's junk mail will undoubtably illustrate my point perfectly. Below are a few quick examples of Century Gothic at its worst...