freedom of expression

This "freedom of expression booth" at the MSP airport most likely won’t be looked at in the same way after this year’s Senator Craig escapade.

But one of the most important — and one of the most overlooked — aspects our visual culture is fonts, particularly in our instructional messages.

Recognize the style in the picture? It’s Helvetica, the ubiquitous plain Jane font that has gained a wider recognition thanks to an interesting documentary released earlier this year of the same name which illustrates just how pervasive the font is. (And really, it’s everywhere.)

For some more info on fonts, check out the blog for local font shop Chank. They’ve got a lot of examples of fonts they’ve designed in action, like the lettering for the front of Sam’s Wine Shop on Washington Avenue:

That window just wouldn’t be as classy and the Freedom of Expression Booth wouldn’t have the same seriousness if the fonts were exchanged, would they?

(pictures from el-as’s photostream and chank blog)