Comments on: Who chose that typeface?

By: Raymond Loo

Raymond Loo — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:15:44 +0000

I prefer Gill Sans on the timetables over the much thinner Interstate. Interstate doesn’t really read well on the bus stand as seen recently on Cat stops on Phillimore Street, Fremantle. I don’t know but to me it just looks very awkward.

By: azza-bazoo

azza-bazoo — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:10:27 +0000

Ah, but the Busport screens aren’t much use to me when only a quarter of the services to Cockburn connect with a bus to my house

Fair enough that the old and new kangaroos aren’t that different, but I think the new one has substantially changed the feel. Normally the feel of a brand is considered its biggest component — but then again, maybe it is just me. British Airways, as an example, has made much bigger changes to their brand in recent years.

By: Thia

Thia — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 05:04:15 +0000

As far as folding goes, I wonder if TP could’ve made it more complicated, given the limitations of using only crosswise, parallel folds all the same distance apart. And if you’ve only got a few minutes, that’s what the screens are for (except that they’ve misaligned the display on the A4-> screen, so I’m standing there wondering why on earth the 78 is stopping at in the A platform, before suddenly realising it’s actually on of my buses and madly dashing down the steps because it’s about to leave.)

And Qantas can get away with it because it’s not really any different – it’s still a white kangaroo on a white background, so the brand-logo recognition is still there, and if they hadn’t had so much fanfare then I suspect more than a few people wouldn’t have noticed. Especially if they’d only put it on the A380s initially – which I read somewhere was one of the reasons for the change, the foot needed to be shifted because of various tail-fin-thingies.
Although I confess I prefer the old kangaroo; the new one looks somehow clumsier, which probably isn’t the impression an airline wants to give *g*

By: azza-bazoo

azza-bazoo — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:02:07 +0000

Maybe so, though I suspect thinness is a bad thing for readability of numbers!

It’s strange that a typeface designed for signs is being used on paper, while (as far as I can tell) Gill Sans is still the go for display signage at the new train stations.

By: Matt Johnston

Matt Johnston — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:06:53 +0000

Well noted. Perhaps someone thought that Gill Sans was wasting too much width and a thinner font would be more efficient? It sounds plausible given Transperth’s aesthetics. *sigh*