CMYK

Every designer has one - a hit list. The list of typefaces so gut-wrenching to that designer that he or she would do anything short of selling their soul to the devil to purge its very existence from the face of the earth. I have my own, and I’ll probably end up ranting about quite a few of them on more than one occasion. However, one that seems to be popping up more and more is Copperplate (aka Copperplate Gothic). I was reminded of it recently when I saw a bottle of San Pellegrino water while dining in an Italian restaurant. I realize that the Pellegrino logo does not actually use Copperplate, but the typeface is similar enough that it makes me think of it whenever I see their logo. Strangely enough, it actually doesn’t bother me when it’s on their bottles and I can’t seem to explain why. One obvious answer is that it’s different enough from Copperplate that it actually becomes, well, attractive. Another possibility is that I’ve gotten used to seeing that style typeface in a given setting, so it bothers me when I see it used [profusely] elsewhere. Yet another possibility is that Copperplate is the ugly twin that does everything wrong. Side by side, you notice that Copperplate is rather squat, and certain characters [such as the G and R] lack the same finesse seen in the San Pellegrino logo. At this moment, I can’t explain it and I may never be able to. To relate it back to food, perhaps it parallels my inexplicable feelings concerning mushrooms: I love fresh mushrooms, but canned mushrooms are a completely separate entity to me, despite the similarities.