Type and national character

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  • Continuity

    A few years ago, I was talking to my then creative partner/CW about the relationship between fonts and national characters, in that you're likely to see more of a particular font or style of font in any given country, and the characteristics of those typefaces reflect national character.

    He thought I was full of it, but OK. :D The more I travelled and lived in other places, the more sense it made to me.

    Anyway, thoughts? Let's drag them out, and see what turns up. I'll start.

    The Netherlands:

    Good old Univers. Seen just about _everywhere_ in NL.

    Pragmatic. No-nonsense. Not uptight like a conservative serif font, but not especially adventurous, either. It's kind of got an adaptable personality, because it has to, not because it's looking for it.

    It's got clean, crisp lines that make it good for business, and it's a little oasis of unremarkable calm in an otherwise crazy place.

    It does what it needs to do with no excess drama. Just how the Dutch like it.

  • lukus_W0

    My associations with typography in the UK are transport related - I'd be stuck between either Gill Sans or Transport;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tra…)

  • typist0

    germany