Avatar has just made James Cameron public enemy #1 for all graphic designers. With a budget of over $200 million, top of the line visual effects professionals, and marketing collaborations including Coca-Cola and Twentieth Century Fox, how in the name of “Eywa” did this record-breaking movie manage to be released with Papyrus as its title font?
Even with all of Avatar’s beautiful visuals and oddly attractive eight foot tall blue people, graphic designers world-wide squirmed in their theater seats as the title and subtitles appeared on the screen in what is collectively known as their least favorite font. You would think that with all the artists and professionals involved in creating and promoting the movie, someone would have put the kibosh on the usage of this font.
Since no self-respecting graphic designer would have willingly used the eyesore of a font, we can only come to one conclusion:
IT’S JAMES CAMERON’S FAULT!
He may have a knack for creating movies that attract moviegoers like frat boys to cheap beer, but his choice of fonts is obviously attrocious. Why didn’t someone talk him out of it? Even if it involved force, illegal opiates, or simply deleting the font file from all the computers, someone should have put an end to the use of Papyrus in Avatar.
Placed on anything pertaining to Native Americans, Egyptians, other ethnic cultures, and now apparently aliens, Papyrus is sorely overused and abused.
Not only is it overused, but it has readability issues. Did someone really think we wanted to read subtitles in a font that looks like it was created with sticks and mud?
There are millions of other fonts available to choose from (with about half of them residing on my computer), and this movie had a budget that would have allowed for someone to make their own stinkin’ font.
Yeah, it’s that bad.
Instead, there is now a very ashamed graphic designer hiding under their
desk from the barage of angry email pouring into their inbox.
I mean, the only way it could have been worse is if someone had made Comic Sans the title font.
Rachel Bruen | Rachel holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Communication Design from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and worked with Ron full-time throughout 2009. She has since moved on, but we still consider her family and a solid resource when she can fit us in.
More posts by: Rachel Bruen
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Creative Somebody….
Graphic designer, #design blogger, marketing strategist and disability activist.
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James Cameron is Public Enemy #1
Why, James Cameron?
Avatar has just made James Cameron public enemy #1 for all graphic designers. With a budget of over $200 million, top of the line visual effects professionals, and marketing collaborations including Coca-Cola and Twentieth Century Fox, how in the name of “Eywa” did this record-breaking movie manage to be released with Papyrus as its title font?
Even with all of Avatar’s beautiful visuals and oddly attractive eight foot tall blue people, graphic designers world-wide squirmed in their theater seats as the title and subtitles appeared on the screen in what is collectively known as their least favorite font. You would think that with all the artists and professionals involved in creating and promoting the movie, someone would have put the kibosh on the usage of this font.
Since no self-respecting graphic designer would have willingly used the eyesore of a font, we can only come to one conclusion:
IT’S JAMES CAMERON’S FAULT!
He may have a knack for creating movies that attract moviegoers like frat boys to cheap beer, but his choice of fonts is obviously attrocious. Why didn’t someone talk him out of it? Even if it involved force, illegal opiates, or simply deleting the font file from all the computers, someone should have put an end to the use of Papyrus in Avatar.
Placed on anything pertaining to Native Americans, Egyptians, other ethnic cultures, and now apparently aliens, Papyrus is sorely overused and abused.
Not only is it overused, but it has readability issues. Did someone really think we wanted to read subtitles in a font that looks like it was created with sticks and mud?
There are millions of other fonts available to choose from (with about half of them residing on my computer), and this movie had a budget that would have allowed for someone to make their own stinkin’ font.
Yeah, it’s that bad.
Instead, there is now a very ashamed graphic designer hiding under their
desk from the barage of angry email pouring into their inbox.
I mean, the only way it could have been worse is if someone had made Comic Sans the title font.
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