What do we think of Vidange?

[Nick Cooke]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

I can't say I care for it too much. I didn't like Barnbrook's Priori Gill rework, but this goes a step further and takes Gill and tortures it into gimmicky shapes for no particular reason. Look at 'submit Forum topic' - up and down all over the place. It makes for an uncomfortable read.

 

[Dunwich Type]

Lacks unity IMHO. The angled letters have a runic feel that doesn't mesh with the rounded letters from Gill.

[jonathanhughes]

I think it's interesting -- it seems to have some elements of some of the earlier Emigre typefaces like Manson/Mason, with a hint of Electrix and Lunatix. I think I'd like Vidage more if it was more its own thing, and didn't have characters that look so much like Gill (in particular, the lowercase "t").

[nina]

Yeah, what a strange font. I'm not sure I get what it's about, and somehow I'm reluctant to believe there is no point behind its range of differing structures.

Some details are awesome – I am very excited about its "g". And the "q" is interesting too. And the "M" seems very Jack Usine.
To my eye, they just all seem to belong to slightly different fonts. :-\

[crossgrove]

We loves it we does

[Stephen Coles]

What it's about: Jack is heavily influenced by vintage lettering seen on signs in France. Check out his fantastic Jules Vernacular and you can see some of the forms that inspired Vidange. It's not a text face, folks. It's meant to be wacky.

[cerulean]

The "a" kind of destroys the whole thing.

The smallcaps caught my interest; they look more like a coherent design somehow. This face might be best suited for all-caps uses, with the lowercase treated as ancillary just in case you need a lowercase character or two.

[Dunwich Type]

Thanks for the link, Stewf. Vindange makes much more sense in that context.

[Jan]

Yer. That’s wacky is what I thought until I saw by whom it was.

[russellm]

I like Vidange and I love Jules Vernacular.

-=®=-

[nina]

Good points. FWIW, I know (and have used some of) Jack's previous work, and love Jules Vernacular too; somehow my eyes still get a bit seasick from trying to reconcile the rounds and angles. Maybe it's just me.

[Bert Vanderveen]

Me not like at all. (But I am a grumpy old guy, so what do I know…)

. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO

[William Berkson]

>I am a grumpy old guy, so what do I know

Hey, that's wisdom, don't knock it. As James Brown used to sing:

:: SAY LOUD! :: I'M OLD AND I'M PROUD! ::

Or something like that :)

[Joe Pemberton]

Wow, Stephen, with that background the forms make a lot of sense. I'm a fan. I can't think how I would ever recommend it to a client, but it's pretty great.

[Simon Robertson]

to be cliche, when your local goth-club is seeking a new identity... Vidange!

[Dan Gayle]

Wow. I like this one:

 

That should totally be cleaned up and turned into a font.

[robot]

extra awkward, although the lowercase g is rather elegant.

[Nick Shinn]

...grumpy old guy...

There are some young fogies here too :-)

***

It works for me, except when a sequence of letters is all Gill, e.g. "topic".
I'm like, why did the font change?

[paragraph]

Was it Mark Twain who once said: Wagner's music is not as bad as it sounds.
If it does not look great before the explanations, why would it look great afterwards?

[Nick Shinn]

If you have an immediate dislike for something, are you condemned to despise it for eternity?

[paragraph]

Nope, you are right, Nick. Can I please dislike it until at least Monday?

[Dunwich Type]

If it does not look great before the explanations, why would it look great afterwards?

Because type appreciation is cutural. The explanation allows me to appreciate why someone would design a font like this, why he thought that there are designers who might use it, and why he thought people wouldn’t have too much trouble reading it when they encounter it. I still wouldn’t use Vidange—it just isn’t my cup of rather orderly tea. But, having seen the photos that inspired it, I’m sure that there are plenty of designers in France who would just love to use Vidange.

[Dan Gayle]

I used to hate how a Les Paul looked. Until I realized that the very nature of the Les Paul defines what cool is. If it plays awesome, is awesomely useable, sounds great, works in any number of settings, etc., then almost magically it starts to look awesome as well.

Except for Vidange, which I don't think is that great because it doesn't look like it works for anything other than English Choral music filtered through a ring harmonizer.

And that, my friends, is my personal interpretation of a David Berlow post. :)

[Dunwich Type]

Dan, you’ve made me realize that I could use Dave’s posts as nonsense text in type specimens.

[paragraph]

James, I believe that in things visual and subjective (as well as in music), if you have to explain it at length, you've already lost.