Ten můj font

We all read. If not exactly poetry, a Russian novel or a philosophical treatise, certainly road signs, signs on biscuit wrappers or text messages. Letters in any form have accompanied man for centuries, but they did not come to us on their own: someone invented them, drew them, and in earlier times also cast a mould and stamped them so that the printer could cover the paper with them.

Today, we can't imagine a freer environment than a drop-down menu of type in a word processor. Every font oozes history, with Johannes Gutenberg peeking out from behind every curve or shank. There are names we know: Helvetica, Times New Roman, Palatino or Gill Sans. There are fonts made from foils and tattered manuscripts: Bembo, Baskerville and Caslon. There are options for different tastes: Bodoni, Didot and Book Antiqua. But there's also the risk of ridicule: Brush Script, Herculanum, Braggadocio and Comic Sans. Twenty-five years ago we hadn't heard of them and in the age of the typewriter we couldn't even foresee them; today we can't do without them.