Douglas Thomas: How a typeface helped launch Apollo
Douglas Thomas: Como uma família tipográfica ajudou o projeto Apollo
Douglas Thomas's research explores the power of fonts at the intersection of design and culture. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
the great leap for mankind.
o grande salto da humanidade.
they walked on the surface,
andaram na superfície
that in America we say is a triumph.
triunfante nos Estados Unidos.
amazing accomplishment.
uma conquista magnífica.
this flag, though.
a little bit about.
os dois globos, representando a Terra.
that there's two globes,
em paz por toda a humanidade".
nice poetic language,
é apenas linguagem poética,
that's perfect for this moment.
tipográfica perfeita para o momento.
for something on the moon: Futura.
para algo na Lua: Futura.
é perfeita para este momento.
for this moment.
do que algo cerimonial.
than just ceremonial.
inconsciente em tipografia.
experts on typography.
of how fonts inhabit our world,
das fontes do nosso mundo,
of the words we use.
das palavras que usamos.
that's funny about this, though.
nerd de fontes como eu,
you're not a font nerd,
mas tudo bem se não for,
but if you're not, that's alright,
for the perfect project,
perfeita para um projeto
para comprar uma que seja perfeita,
of dollars every year,
with the right features.
gasta horas avaliando fontes.
every day, evaluating fonts.
think about how you got here.
em como você chegou aqui.
and which to ignore.
buying a new product,
whether something is expensive
não seja extraordinário para você,
vê algo fora do lugar,
something out of place,
and why I love Futura,
e por que eu amo Futura,
what I study is everywhere.
está em todos os lugares.
every book that I pick up,
em cada livro que abro,
está repleta de coisas que amo.
is filled with the thing I love.
and what happens with typography,
e o que acontece com a tipografia,
of everything before you.
this is modernism in miniature.
o modernismo em miniatura.
infiltrated this country
se infiltrou nesse país,
mais popular ou promíscua
or promiscuous typeface,
the aphorisms of modernism.
os aforismos do modernismo.
the same thing happened.
focar nas formas básicas,
focus on the basic shapes,
inherent in Futura
que a Futura tem formatos
are all based on circles,
apex of the triangle.
they might have been made
com uma régua ou um compasso.
matemáticos, precisos.
they feel mathematic, precise.
carries through with the way
parece ter sido projetado.
com outras famílias e fosse algo novo.
like other typefaces, to be something new.
the medium weight and the bold weight.
different things to commend to it.
por uma máquina e não à mão.
by a machine, and not by hand.
this is what I mean.
por uma caneta ou pincel de caligrafia.
with a calligraphic brush or a pen.
tradicionais, como a Garamond,
say like a Garamond,
where it get little bit thinner at the top
fica mais fino no topo
que alguém escreveu à mão.
someone had made it by hand.
no one had touched it at all,
Paul Renner, em 1927.
who made this in 1927, employed.
circular se encontra com o eixo vertical,
joins with the vertical shaft,
just every so slightly.
parecer geometricamente perfeita,
to look geometrically perfect,
designers do all the time
na Europa e nos Estados Unidos.
at the same time in Europe and America.
excellent examples from Europe,
para uma nova era, um novo momento.
for the new age, a new moment in time.
em certos aspectos à Futura,
look very similar to Futura,
com proporções diferentes.
or different proportions.
the titles there,
don't quite roll off the tongue:
fáceis de se pronunciar:
Berthold-Grotesk, Elegant-Grotesk.
Berthold-Grotesk e Elegant-Grotesk.
household names, are they?
good choice by the marketing team.
de marketing acertou na escolha.
is that this is a name
and an idea about the future.
e uma ideia sobre o futuro.
for future in German,
para "futuro", nem um nome alemão,
com um público maior e universal.
larger audience, a universal audience.
to what was being done in America --
from the same period
como o mercado de ações
like what the stock market looked like
going nuts in the 1920s.
is doing something revolutionary.
fazendo algo revolucionário.
de uma família tipográfica em uso.
about an example of the typeface in use.
probably know today, "Vanity Fair."
conhecemos hoje, a Vanity Fair.
in 1929, in the summer.
nothing wrong with this design.
de errado com esse design.
of an important person,
o governador de Nova York.
then-governor of New York.
everything seems symmetrical.
of ornamentation,
some vestiges of the painted lady
to help you get into the text.
and in October of 1929,
and redesigned "Vanity Fair."
reestruturou a Vanity Fair.
it looks like with Futura.
of an abstract, beautiful setting,
there's nothing at all.
layout is now asymmetry.
há uma assimétrica.
the further you enter the magazine.
conforme folheamos a revista.
even more dramatic asymmetry.
se movendo pela página
by Pablo Picasso, moving across the page
vai perceber algo.
you might notice something.
mas não há letras maiúsculas.
in the title or the captions on this page.
livro ou website,
any book or go to any website,
isso tão facilmente.
going to find it very easily.
what capital letters denote,
das letras maiúsculas,
the name of our corporations,
America's the home of capitalization.
Unidos é o país da capitalização.
taking away all the capital letters.
the same political force
like pronouns in our society today.
na nossa sociedade de hoje.
had a communist revolution.
da Revolução Russa.
a socialist infiltration into America.
nos Estados Unidos.
that this was an egalitarian,
que isso era algo igualitário,
into one equal playing field.
onde todos jogam pela mesma regra.
para lhe dar mais poder ou prestígio.
you do capitalize something
in which Futura was using this idea.
were doing other things with Futura.
a Futura de outro modo.
of modernism with it,
new illustration styles,
types of illustration.
to use a new typeface,
usar uma nova família
onto your computer.
baixá-la no seu computador.
que queriam adotar isso
in everyday typography,
na tipografia do dia a dia,
capitalists, what did we do?
with the name Futura,
nada a ver com a Futura,
that World War II started,
to boycott Nazi goods.
queriam boicotar os produtos nazistas.
"Go ahead and use our copies.
use as nossas cópias.
use Vogue, use Tempo.
a Spartan, a Vogue, a Tempo.
they didn't even learn the new names,
não aprenderam seus nomes,
expansion football team.
time de futebol americano.
of the most important advertising
nas propagandas mais importantes
ao escolher uma nova família
was picking a typeface
for new maps and new projects,
surpreendente nem radical,
it wasn't a radical choice,
to do with communism.
dos mapas mais importantes,
on some of the most important maps,
first started the Mercury program,
começaram o projeto Mercury,
estavam formatados em Futura.
that he was using were in Futura.
Mercury morphed into Apollo,
se transformou no projeto Apollo,
more and more for more things.
em muitas outras ocasiões.
on instrument panels,
to show how the whole system worked.
como um sistema inteiro operava.
that they handed out to people.
os astronautas a operar as máquinas.
that helped the astronauts
making everything.
corporação fazendo tudo.
todos fazendo máquinas diferentes.
famílias diferentes e sistemas diferentes
different typefaces and different systems
in the space shuttles.
impossible to navigate
e haveria uma sobrecarga cognitiva
a cognitive overload
to open up a new system.
being used on the interface
and make it more clear.
das complexidades e torná-las mais claras.
it was used on labels,
to tell them what to do.
mais complexas fossem mais simples,
that were complex be more simple to them,
entirely in Futura,
what to do with that one moment.
everything in their head,
estas coisas como referência.
in the world to see and refer to.
make that system,
a very difficult and complex system,
an astronaut might have seen
que um astronauta veria,
or exiting the spacecraft
of how Futura worked in this way
de como a Futura funcionou
produzida por uma empresa sueca.
that was made by the Swedish company.
some of you might have used one,
talvez alguns aqui tenham usado,
como uma excelente câmera.
as a really great camera.
if you know anything about cameras,
se você entende de câmeras,
modifications made to it.
sobre os rolos de filme
placed all over the film canisters,
out of the astronauts.
they're not experts in art.
nem especialistas em arte.
would know how to use this camera
placed there in Futura.
tivessem a confiança
that they had legitimacy
antes que ele fosse exposto.
before it would expose.
we would have never had
without this label.
como essa flâmula
as this, a ceremonial patch,
than just something ceremonial,
não era algo apenas cerimonial,
that had just been picked for its design.
apenas pelo seu design.
because of this choice.
por causa dessa escolha.
I want to talk about in closing.
antes de encerrar.
is that all of them tell stories.
todas elas contam histórias.
tells a very powerful story
being taken into America
trazido aos Estados Unidos
and worst things America does,
e piores coisas desse país,
e quando as expomos ao mundo
and we spit them out back again
o que aconteceu com a tecnologia
exactly what happened with the technology
que se tornou um produto norte-americano.
taken in, made into an American commodity.
que também vieram da Alemanha.
all came from Germany as well.
numa placa norte-americana
on an American plaque
with the technology.
you realize that typography on the moon
você percebe que a tipografia na Lua
represents authority,
simboliza a autoridade,
the power to get to the moon.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Douglas Thomas - Designer, writer and historian of typographyDouglas Thomas's research explores the power of fonts at the intersection of design and culture.
Why you should listen
Douglas Thomas is is the author of Never Use Futura (Princeton Architectural Press, 2017). His work explores the nexus of typography, design and culture. He specializes in user experience design, publication design and branding. His design work has been featured in Communication Arts, Eye, Design Observer, Print and Graphis. He is assistant professor of graphic design at Brigham Young University.
(Photo: Kei Ito)
Douglas Thomas | Speaker | TED.com