Reviled fonts

Well, the story is done. Go read it.

The original call for contributions was:

When recherché designers denounce certain fonts in high dudgeon, dost they protest too much? Aren’t these the same fonts that designers used when they were starting out?

Just whatever trauma did Souvenir, Arial, Eurostile, Times Bold, and Benguiat inflict on beginning designers to prompt them to forswear such fonts forevermore? Shouldn’t designers pick on fonts their own size?

I am researching an article for Print that will:

• interview type designers on the favourite fonts they love to hate, and challengesthem to justify their opinions
• look for actual uses of those fonts that aren’t so bad by any fair estimation – Souvenir and Benguiat, for example, work spectacularly well at 5 point in dictionaries, and I know of a design student who did good things with Souvenir without knowing its reviled status
• inquire, in general, what the reviled fonts of tomorrow might be (Adobe Garamond, anyone?)
• take a few exploratory prods to find out if any fonts on one designer’s reviled list happen to find themselves on another designer’s favourites list

The story will address the typefaces that designers love to hate, but won’t quite let respondents off the hook. Let’s see if we can separate rationale from rationalization.