You young’uns may have learned about typefaces and the difference between serif and sans serif from using the “font” settings on your computers, but I learned from using Letraset (and often, its budget-priced brother, Geotype). They were sheets of rub-down transfer lettering and clip art. The principle behind Letraset wasn’t all that different from temporary tattoos. The stuff went the way of the dodo once desktop publishing and laser, inkjet and dye sublimation printers caught on.
Graphic artist and typeface fancier Jessica Hische – who recently wrote the brilliant “The work you do while you procrastinate is the work you should be doing for the rest of your life” – posted this great graphic showing the evolution of her type taste from grade school to the present day. Click it to see it at full size. Oh, I remember my Helvetica Condensed Black Oblique phase…
