Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Brought to you by the letter...

Today's letter is brought to you by the letter: !
Zzzap OT, regular, !

Okay, I know the ! is a punctuation mark, not a letter. And no, I never had any intention of doing anything but letters and numbers. But sometimes, you've got to live life on the fly and go where it takes you. Ha. Anyway. A friend recently referred to me a the type girl (which lighted me up inside! Yay!) and he asked what I would typeface I would recommend for a tattoo. He wants to have Don't Panic! written on his arm, a motto taken from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and pretty sound life advice in general. I sent him over a list, which included some standard sexy sans serifs like Tungsten and Frutiger. But in the back of my head I kept thinking about Zzzap. A font I've recently become associated with thanks to I Love Typography's nifty Font Game iPhone app.

Zzzap looks just the way it's named, like a bolt of electricity went coursing through the edges of the forms. I think it makes for a more interesting and playful tattoo. Although, it probably wouldn't be a very calming typeface to reflect the message of don't panic. If anything, it'd probably keep you panicked and jostled with it's sharp edges and bold forms. I chose the exclamation point for today's letter (mark) because it that mark sums up Zzzap's electricity. The font might as well have been called Zap! or !!!. I also think the ! shape is particularly interesting the way it resembles an retro-style lightening bolt (again with the electricity theme.)

(On a sidenote, I really think my advice to use his own handwriting or that of his mom--or someone close to him--was pretty spot on. What do you think?)


Courtesy of fontshop.com

Design Foundry: Comicraft
Designer:
John Roshell, Richard Starkings
Date: 2006
Classification: Decorative

Not much info on Zzzap, but the skinny on Comicraft (started by Roshell and Starkings) is that they're one of the first companies with a specialty in digitizing comic book lettering. "The Comicraft studio’s clients include Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Mad Magazine, Nickelodeon, Graphitti Designs, View Askew, Scholastic, Todd Mcfarlane Productions and NBC."

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