The Typographic Legacy of Microsoft

Microsoft isn't the first company you'd associate with typography, but their fonts have done more to democratize typesetting than any company in the last half century. Today we look at that history through 10 of their most famous and infamous fonts.

0:00 Microsoft's typographic legacy
0:54 What is typography?
3:57 Segoe UI (and Frutiger, Myriad)
8:13 Calibri
13:02 Core fonts for the Web
14:58 A history of Truetype fonts
18:37 Trebuchet MS
21:51 Georgia
25:01 Impact
27:18 Verdana (and Tahoma)
32:18 Comic Sans
34:35 The "OG" Truetype Trinity
35:15 Times New Roman
39:32 Courier New
41:52 Arial
44:42 A legacy which endures today

First of all, just what is typography? #Typography is everything about written communication that's visual. On screen or off. As instruments are to musical performance, #fonts are to typography.

While #Microsoft may not have pioneered all of the underlying technology like Truetype, or had the most original designs, their sheer market dominance meant that their influence was unavoidable through the era of the desktop pc. It’s easy to forget in 2020, that Microsoft was once considered the biggest of all big tech companies - and sued as monopoly under US anti-trust laws. For multiple decades nearly everything important in computing was either instigated by or was made in reaction to Microsoft.

Errata:

Further resources:

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*Font format wars:*

The Font Wars—PostScript, TrueType, the Mac and the success of desktop publishing by Typography Guru

TrueType: The Digital Font Technology, lecture by Eliyezer Kohen

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Type Specimens - 1921 - Miller & Carter

*Screen-optimised Serif Body fonts*

Merriweather (Free)

Bitter (Free)

Recia (Commercial - NB: affiliate link)

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AMOLED vs IPS LCD vs Retina vs Infinity Display - Gary Explains
Android Authority

These Are Not Pixels: Revisited
by Technology Connections

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Microsoft Bob Experience: Was It Really THAT Bad? - LGR

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*Metal type:*

Monotype casting machine at Arion Press in San Francisco
from Pino Trogu (Apologies I misspelled your name in the video)!

Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu (the end of metal type at the New York Times)

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The Farewell' Screenplay Breakdown: Lulu Wang Compares First To Final Drafts | Vanity Fair

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TechAltar: Why Microsoft partners with rivals (Linux, PlayStation, Chromium, etc.)

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Apologies to Brian Brushwood. ;)

Music from Streambeats and Epidemic Sound

[wintermute]

Microsoft would absolutely be the first company that springs to mind when talking fonts, for me. Microsoft Word was surely a lot of people's introduction to the entire concept of choosing a font?

[michellecanfield]

You absolutely did not talk way too long about fonts! I know I am late to the party viewing this video, and you probably won’t even see this comment, but I found this video completely and utterly fascinating. I can’t imagine the huge amount of research that went into it. I really enjoyed how deep you got into the weeds of each font’s particular design features and the intricate history behind them all. Excellent in every way. I am enjoying your other content too. Keep up the great work!

[mc]

"It might be more exciting to talk about the automotive design of a rare Ferrari or a Bugatti, but if you want to learn about the design that impacts the average person's experience, there's a lot more to be gleaned from looking at a Toyota Camry" - this line absolutely sums up what design for the public is all about! Thanks for bringing this out, a real gem this video!

[olivierdubois]

I can't believe this channel isn't more known. You manage to take niche and technical subjects and make them interesting to listen to. This is a goldmine of content.

[finn]

love love love how you don’t shy away from using industry terms but also take the time to define them, makes it enjoyable as someone who knows a little about typography and knows very little about typography :D

[Spathephoros]

29 minutes into this video and realizing I can't believe how interesting I've found it

[Catchandelier]

Speaking as someone with Dyslexia, Comic Sans is the single most readable font I have ever, ever used. Considering it was originally designed for use in a children’s game, it’s incredible readability at all coherent sizes makes total sense.

What it comes down to so far as I can tell, is that each character is a genuinely unique shape; there is no visual confusion at all. An ‘I’ does not masquerade as an ‘l’, which always annoys me with more “palatable” modern fonts.

I would not have been able to get through high school or college without my buddy Comic Sans, and I think there’s a discussion to be had about ableism in type fonts, the infantilization of the disabled, and it’s correlation with Comic Sans hate. For me, it’s the best type font that’s ever existed, and I’m glad to have it.

Absolutely amazing channel; so glad I subscribed!!!

[Azeria]

I know this is an old video but since I’m watching it, might be worth saying anyway. I wrote a post on r/dyslexia about this…

Please. If you produce materials for dyslexic people, *do not* just make it in Comic Sans cuz you heard it’s better, likely from someone who isn’t dyslexic. This also applies to those specific dyslexia friendly fonts too. The weird weighting, *may* help someone, but it may make it harder to read for another.

Dyslexics are people, and they each need specialised accommodations for their learning difficulty. Ask them, please don’t dictate a font you *think* might work better.

[ytaken]

Me: I don't have enough attention span to watch a 20 minute long episode of a show!

Also me: *watches a 48 minute long video about FONTS in one go*

You're one of the very, very few English-speaking people I can watch without subtitles with zero problems. You make me feel like my English is better than it probably is. Congratulations on your clarity of speech. I mean, sometimes I even use subtitles on Spanish people speaking Spanish because their accent is different than mine. Kudos!

[heavyizthacrown-]

I subscribed immediately once I saw that business card font explanation. I’m loving your channel, please do a “your business card is crap“ video! Thank you so much keep up the good work.

[Alligatork]

Linus, if you're still reading these comments, I'd love to see your breakdown of some of the so-called "worst" fonts ever used. Stuff like Jokerman, Papyrus, Lobster, etc. They all look pretty ridiculous but seem to get a ton of use

[cashnelson]

I'll always have a special place in my heart for Verdana, which I decided as a budding child webmaster in the early 2000s was absolutely the best-looking option of the common web fonts. Still a big fan

[hate]

oh, I would love a world without adobe. they've single-handedly gimped all competition in their niche with restrictive and overreaching patent-trolling.

[ExperimentIV]

22:36 love the use of the spelling of defence in the scottish original type and defense in the american one here. fun detail

[hecticvexed]

Thank you Linus, these are impeccably produced. I'd be greatly interested in a WordArt video. I can't be the only one who messed around with those awful presets in PowerPoint as a child, like one might with Paint.

[arthurwweber]

Awesome video, Linus! A slight correction: the system font in Windows 95 was a bitmap font called MS Sans Serif (introduced in Windows 3.0 for icon captions), that was rereleased as a TrueType-flavored OpenType font in Windows 2000 called Microsoft Sans Serif.

[StephenMatlock]

Goodness - I was such a font nerd in high school and loved graphic design. I used to buy those letterform sheets that you rubbed off for setting headlines just to create samples. And way back then I remember when I had my first experiences with a digital typesetting machine. It had no display, so you typed blind, printed a long strip of paper, cut it into line-sized bits, and pasted it up with a waxer.

I collected fonts and printed them as full-page specimens to keep in a notebook.

This channel is like bacon.

[metrodeus]

I really like it when vids like these balance the focus of the topic from the strict "top 10" format, and segue into more educational areas. Good video my man

[NuclearMoonCat]

I know very, very little about typography, and I stumbled onto this video by accident, but honestly, the way you describe everything and show all the details and quirks is so fascinating, that I watched the whole thing with great interest, did not even notice, that it was almost 50 minutes long. Great work, I'll surely explore the rest of your content.