Sunday, May 18, 2014

Strange Clairvoyance


The human brain is a strange device for sure.  I like cognitive puzzles and I'm aware that the subconscious mind is always ticking away logging things while we go about our daily business.  I present to you the following:

I'm categorizing another font I've cleaned out of the pile of pied type that's been collecting dust in a box.  This one is rather intriguing and I'm for sure it's some derivation of Stymie. As soon as this thought pops up, my brain whispers, "No, B." My id says, "Uh, okay. Anyway, let's start out the search with identifont.com." Which I do and the result I get is Modern No. 20. I stare at the font on the screen for a while realizing that it's not the font I have at all and my brain whispers, "Look up B."

By now, I'm thinking "What the hell? I know it's not Broadway." but I look up Broadway anyway to confirm. Brain whispers, "Yeah, it's in B." "Nope," I say, "It's not Broadway." and proceed to look up Modern and go from there. Trusty American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century is always there to help me.  When Modern yields nothing, I go search Stymie. For some reason, I have a foggy recollection of a dusty old scrap of paper labeling one of the trays "Stymie" that I tossed apathetically into the trash can some five or six years ago. Upon finding Stymie in the catalog, I'm disappointed at yet another mismatch. My brains whispers, "I keep telling you it's in B."

With a sigh, I turn to section B and just start to leaf through the entire section with an eye out for the font type. Finally, I turn the page to see the match for my type font.  It is made by Mono and is called Ultra in the section of Bodoni.

How in the hell? I don't even like Bodoni but my brain remembered the passing dismissal I gave the font more than 10 years ago at the Corcoran and I never bothered with the set we've got at the VABC.  As soon as my eyes lit upon the match my brain said, "Told you it was in B."

It's all in there.  Sometimes we just need to listen.