Seeing as how there seems to be an increasing number of both Papyrus-phobic people, and designers who love the font, I thought it might be good to point this one out. The new James Cameron film, Avatar, uses a slightly altered version of Papyrus in the movie's title. I did a little research, check this out:
In case you can't see the picture because I messed up: http://www.papyruswatch.com/2009/08/avatar-really.html
The very top type is the Avatar name used for the film, papyruswatch.com (yes, there is such a thing), shows us how the designer from the film made a few adjustments to the font. They extended the A and the R beyond the baseline and adjusted the tracking. The strokes used to make the letters are the same (aside from a few notches in the letters, and a serif added to the V etc).
Does it work for Avatar? Possibly. But personally, I feel that, considering the unique nature of the film, the designer could have maybe designed a typeface that isn't so popular now. EVERYONE is using Papyrus. It doesn't match the movie's unique flavor. James Cameron could get away with using this (an he did, Avatar beat Titanic's box office record) but probably only because the font was in all caps; I think all caps gives the title a raw, semi-untamed, almost primal feel (much better than the Bleu Monkey, Paul?)
I'll add another restaurant to our list. Olive Garden is an Italian Restaurant (with amazing salads and bread sticks, I might add) and their restaurant sign/name is designed with a scripted font. I think the cursive font (not exactly sure which one it is) is great for the restaurant because I feel like it gives people a classy, sophisticated impression. This is a restaurant that you don't wear jeans and a hoodie to, and I think their typeface really speaks to that.
And here's this one's URL: http://whitneymcd7.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/logo-olivegardentuscany-rgb.jpg
Sarah, great first post. I'll agreed that Avatar uses Papyrus more appropriately than Bleu Monkey, but it's still a painful typeface to see. Even Avatar could have used something more original - but perhaps they went so crazy on the rest of the budget that they couldn't afford to buy the license for a good font? I mean, the Navi would have used a better font than Papyrus. I digress.
ReplyDeleteKeep thinking about the personality a type displays. For Olive Garden I also get hearth, warmth, family and hospitality.
Cheers,
paul