Why Impact? A list of grunge fonts/original?

[Member Ren…]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

Why are so many grunge fonts based on Impact?

321 Impact / Impact
Killer Ants /Impact
Punkass bitch / Impact
Smudgers / Impact
You are loved / Impact

Is there any interest in starting a thread of Grunge fonts and the fonts they're based on to be included in the list of lists at https://typography.guru/forums/topic/91517-forwarding ?

[Member Ren…]

[Member HVB…]

Probably because it's a generally available font that's heavy enough to act as a scratch pad for people to scribble on, re-fill, etc.

[Member Nic…]

Grunge was imaginative 20 years ago, but not now.

[Member 5st…]

Ya, what HVB says seems bang on. Impact also has a powerful condensed tension.

Interesting to note that Impact is gaining traction in the hip hop rapper scene ...ungrunged.

n.

[Member gil…]

This is actual beat-up old wood type. Digitally distressing Impact is probably the easiest way to get something that looks like an old show poster (or a new show poster, Hatch Show Print often uses a similar condensed gothic: see here.)

Interesting aside: brief research pulled up this old typophile thread in which the very creator of Impact shows up to answer questions! Unfortunately he died not long after.

[Member Ric…]

That would be a nice compilation. If only Typophile had some tool to manage visuals a little better.
Listgeeks lacks images too. Tumblr isn't good for browsing through entries... Anyone can suggest a tool for the task?

[Member Ren…]

How I recently used original and grunge fonts.

Impact with Killer Ants/Killer Ants Bold:

Oklahoma with Bleeding Cowboys:

Old English Text MT with Blood of Dracula:

[Member 5st…]

Nice stuffs!

The last time I did a grunge graphic was wayyyyy back in '07 for farm aid. After that I kinda got ungrunged.

Wayyyyy back in long time I did a tutorial on how-to distress a letter shape ...I wonder if I can find it. The coolio part of my technique was that it could distress the letter shapes within a textural context. I'll try to dig it ...prolly on a long time back CD somewhere under dust by now...

n.

[Member 5st…]

What would be really awesome would be to have a font with a choice of distresses built in as options. Within a single font the user could choose a distress paint or concrete or liquid etc..

I know for a long time now that there is are awesome PS plug-ins but I'm not talking about distressing an overall graphic. What I would like to use is a distressed font as editable type. Of course you could always create an Action to be applied to the font ...but that's still not what I want to achieve.

This idea needs more thought ...more coffee!

n.

[Member hra…]

Yet another cool thing we would have done with Multiple-Master technology. :-(

BTW the amount of outline "borrowing" in many of the examples in this thread bothers me.

hhp

[Member 5st…]

outline "borrowing"

???

MM fonts sound interesting in their flexibilities.

n.

[Member hra…]

I meant like the ones here:
https://typography.guru/forums/topic/107963-forwarding#comment-531223

hhp

[Member ahy…]

I'm curious why the letters in "rv" and "iv" are touching each other. In my Impact they don't.

[Member 5st…]

Huh?

n.

[Member Té…]

@ahyangyi – Possibly they were kerned to overlap.

@5star – See @Renaissance_Man's text art upstream.

[Member 5st…]

Oh OK gottcha ...I see now what Yi was referring to ...kerned up to 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!

n.

[Member Rya…]

BTW the amount of outline "borrowing" in many of the examples in this thread bothers me.

But if Impact was originated in a 50 year old Disney movie, you would have been cool with it though right?

[Member hra…]

I'm a shades-of-gray kinda guy. So to me it's all about more/less OK, not OK/not-OK.

hhp

[Member Rya…]

You like reading pornographic novels?

[Member hra…]

No, I don't have time.

hhp

[Member Nic…]

BTW the amount of outline "borrowing" in many of the examples in this thread bothers me.

But it is unlikely to have been “point piracy”.
AFAIK, the usual manner of creating a distressed font is to set text, distress it, then autotrace a bitmapped image of the result.
Are many of the fonts referred to here entirely vector-produced?
In that case, they may not be legal.

[Member Rya…]

Is copying another piece of lettering as a font really OK as long as it it's not an exact digital copy, or as long as it's over 50 years old?

[Member Kar…]

Is copying another piece of lettering as a font really OK as long as it it's not an exact digital copy, or as long as it's over 50 years old?

It really depends on your motivation. In the case of digitizing an older typeface or lettering sample, if no other exists and you are open about your sources and motivation (assuming you plan to make it available publically or commercially) and if done well then it can often be a useful excercise and of benefit to people.

[Member HVB…]

"Is copying another piece of lettering as a font really OK as long as it it's not an exact digital copy, or as long as it's over 50 years old?"

Like everything else, it depends.

Factors include:
. What jurisdiction - European union and USA treat designs and durations differently.
. Previous actions taken - Is the design (or implemenation) patented? Copyright? Trademarked? Has the protection been renewed? Is the original owner alive?
. If the original is protected, how different is the new design - a difficult interpretation.

Simple questions seldom have simple answers.

- Herb