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Typeset In The Future
Personal blog · typesetinthefuture.comdesignculture
Typeset In The Future is a personal blog at typesetinthefuture.com about design and culture. Since 2014, 71 different Hacker News readers have linked it 95 times, most often “The Typography of Blade Runner (2016)”. The last post was in 2020, but the archive is still widely read.
Typography and Design in Science Fiction Movies
Most-linked posts?
- The Typography of Blade Runner (2016)21 people · 22 mentions · first linked 2016-06-20
- Typeset in the future- Fonts in sci-fi11 people · 13 mentions · first linked 2016-06-24
- Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey (2014)8 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2016-06-26
- Typography of “Alien” (2014)6 people · 14 mentions · first linked 2016-06-25
- The Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2014-01-31
- The Typography of ‘Moon’4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-07-16
- Typography of Star Trek: The Motion Picture3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-08-18
- Fontspots: Eurostile3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-12-23
- Alien – My third post about typography in sci-fi2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-12-01
- How to make your text look futuristic (2016)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-05-11
What Hacker News says?
I get the Apollo esthetic (I watched the Skylab missions as a kid on our black & white console TV). But two of the major differences between then and now is cheap computing and additive machining. Cheap computing means you don't need a zillion physical switches for everything. So the cabin is less cluttered and the usability is better.[0] The advent of additive machining means everything doesn't have to be right ang…
Comment linking /2014/01/31/2001-a-space-odyssey/
on “SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit”Submitted The Typeset of Wall·E (2018) as a story · 712 points
HN discussionI still remember this golden article from that same site: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/01/31/2001-a-space-odyss... While he’s doing so, there’s a dramatic… COMPUTER MALFUNCTION …in the hibernation pods, which causes the life support machines of the hibernating science crew to start reporting… LIFE FUNCTIONS CRITICAL …and end up with their… LIFE FUNCTIONS TERMINATED …which isn’t what they wanted AT ALL. Still:…
Comment linking /2014/01/31/2001-a-space-odyssey/
on “The Typeset of Wall·E (2018)”Submitted Moon as a story · 689 points
HN discussionThe book (< https://typesetinthefuture.com/2018/12/11/book/ >) is a fun read, too! I think it was David Plotz who said "read more books with pictures." Interviews, gorgeous looking, and does a good job showing the whole world you can miss by just watching a movie once (or even twice) without really seeing everything. It gives a good sense, too, of how movies first create the standards for "future" and then proceed t…
Comment linking /2018/12/11/book/
on “The Typeset of Wall·E (2018)”Submitted Typography of “Alien” (2014) as a story · 502 points
HN discussionRead this! I feel like having to rehydrate after all that dry wit. Here's a spoiler (seems only fitting) that illustrates the writing style: Maybe I should go and have a lie down for a bit, and come back when the conspiracy theories have subsided. It’s a shame sci-fi films don’t have intermissions these days. Let’s transplant the one from my 2001: A Space Odyssey post, and go and have a cup of tea while the [charact…
Comment linking /postfiles/2001/2001_intermission_full.jpg
on “Moon”Submitted Typography in Alien (2014) as a story · 300 points
HN discussionAt some point in the future Eurostile will have had a lasting influence on culture. >> https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/11/29/fontspots-eurostil...
Comment linking /2014/11/29/fontspots-eurostile/
on “Comic Mono”Submitted The Typography of Blade Runner (2016) as a story · 292 points
HN discussionIf you like this, you might also appreciate Typeset In The Future ( https://typesetinthefuture.com ). The article on the typography of Wall-E is especially fascinating.
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on “Neon Genesis Evangelion (2019)”Submitted Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey (2014) as a story · 189 points
HN discussionFor the lazy web: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/
Comment linking /2016/06/19/bladerunner/
on “Typography of “Alien” (2014)”Submitted WALL·E – Typeset in the Future as a story · 131 points
HN discussionThe dissection of another classic -- Blade Runner on the same site: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/
Comment linking /2016/06/19/bladerunner/
on “Typography of “Alien” (2014)”Submitted Typography of Star Trek: The Motion Picture as a story · 122 points
HN discussionThis month: https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/
Comment linking /2016/06/19/bladerunner/
on “Typography of “Alien” (2014)”Submitted How to make your text look futuristic (2016) as a story · 46 points
HN discussionHere is an example: a certain blogger, Dave Addey [0] published a book [1] which is basically a hardcopy of the blog. After the EMP flash of 2075, the centient raccoons will enjoy reading the stories of the civilization long gone. [0] https://typesetinthefuture.com/author/typesetinthefuture/ [1] https://www.amazon.com/Typeset-Future-Typography-Science-Fic...
Comment linking /author/typesetinthefuture/
on “The Pentium contains a complicated circuit to multiply by three”Submitted Alien – My third post about typography in sci-fi as a story · 30 points
HN discussionMicrogramma is the font used in the USS Discovery control panels and HAL-9000 screens in 2001. edit: Actually, I'm wrong. It seems Microgramma and Manifold are used for HAL's displays, but the panels seem to be set in Futura and Univers. http://typesetinthefuture.com/2001-a-space-odyssey/
Comment linking /2001-a-space-odyssey/
on “Dragon V2 Unveil – Webcast”Submitted The Typography of 2001: A Space Odyssey as a story · 15 points
HN discussionIn the movie, from a plain photography, the ESPER machine manages, somehow, to enter into a reflection, and then expand in the reflection, seeing things that are "not there" in the original image, in practice in the fiction the whole 3d space (even what is on the side of the door) is navigable and viewable: http://thelegalgeeks.com/2017/06/28/admissibility-of-zhoras-... What I mean can be better appreciated in this…
Comment linking /2016/06/19/bladerunner/
on “Lensless camera creates detailed 3-D images without scanning”Submitted Fonts in science fiction: 2001 A Space Odyssey as a story · 13 points
HN discussionRelated: the Typesets in the Future blog.[1] [1] https://typesetinthefuture.com/
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on “On the typography of flight deck documentation – NASA (1992)”Submitted Typeset in the Future: Blade Runner as a story · 11 points
HN discussionA few tangentially related links ... First, there are a few write-ups of the fictional UI(s) used in The Martian : https://www.behance.net/gallery/30473933/The-Martian-UI-Scre... https://medium.com/territory-film/ui-stories-the-martian-eff... Second, I think this blog on sci-fi typography may be interesting to those reading this thread: https://typesetinthefuture.com/
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on “EDEX-UI: science fiction terminal emulator”Submitted Bladerunner typography as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSomehow reminds me of the "Typeset in the future" serie of movie analyses from the perspective of typography used. Highly enjoyable (if you like typography and sci-fi movies): https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/
Comment linking /2016/06/19/bladerunner/
on “An exploratory statistical analysis of Akira and Ghost in the Shell”Submitted Blade Runner – Typeset in the Future as a story · 5 points
HN discussion
