Zuney Tunes

[fuzzyjay]

So Microsoft is coming out with a music player. Woo hoo! What will they think of next?

The logo for it is typographically dumb. Oh, individually the letterforms are all right. In combination, though, they look stupid.

Let's start with the Z. It's a fine Z. I have no complaints. Since it's pretty much all straight lines, the Z sits squarely on the baseline and its height defines the height of the logo. Okay. Now, let's put it next to some letters with curves. Let's draw on the typographic traditions of the ages, shall we, so it will all look pleasing to the eye? Or not.

A letter that has curves that touch the baseline, like an O or an S or a U, should cross the baseline just a little. Otherwise, optically the letter looks like it's pushed up too high. This has been known for oh, maybe 250 years or so.

Well, the U in ZUNE sits right on the baseline, which makes it look too high on the line.

Similarly, the N, which looks like an inverted U, should have its upper curve extending a little bit higher than the Z for it to look like it's the same height. Instead, it's physically exactly as high as the Z, which makes it look too short.

And the E, which is a lower-case E and has curves on top and bottom, to look the same height and to look like it's placed evenly, should be slightly bigger than all the other letters. But it's not.

So the logo looks like it's crooked. Who did this? And how much did they charge for this typographic equivalent of a third-grader's sketch? Eediots.

Well, what should I expect of a world that continually fucks up small caps.

Comments

[bigredpaul.livejournal.com]

will you have my baby now?

[fuzzyjay.livejournal.com]

Nice descender.

[marmtx.livejournal.com]

Weeell... they simply took Neuropol X (http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/typodermic/neuropol-x/) and typed the logo in it. Then mangled it a bit to "smooth it out" and stretched out chopped element of E. Font authors put U and E on the baseline :)

[fuzzyjay.livejournal.com]

Then they were stupid for choosing a stupid font and not correcting its defects. But thanks for the info.

[marmtx.livejournal.com]

I know :)
By the way, it's a speculation -- I simply remembered that I saw "font like that" somewhere so...
Given that they "saved" on industrial designer (so far all prototypes look as ugly as one of those early 2000 players) it's no wonder nobody thought about typography.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

And the first thing they tell you to do in design school is *NEVER* stretch or otherwise mangle a font. It always looks bad.

[marmtx.livejournal.com]

That mostly presuming that original font is well done :)
I don't think this one is that "canonical".

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

And what in the hell is with that 3D pseudo SGI-rip-off icon/logo?

And to think, in true MS fashion, it's not only an MP3 player, but it will have games, and lots of other useless stuff.

They don't get it, they never got it, they never will get it.

[vernnyc.livejournal.com]

Of course I had to find a copy of the logo so that I could see what you guys are talking about. I agree the U and the N look visually disturbing. Like they don't line up to the baseline.




The funny thing is that you can easily manipulate it to get something like this...




visually and otherwise disturbing! ;-)

[fuzzyjay.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!