Innovation Is Always Extravagant
Geek alert! If you don't care about words, or never notice how something looks on a page, this post is not for you.
If you are unconcerned with how to innovate in a space as old as writing itself, click away now.
If you think comic sans is a good idea, well, um, I'm not sure how to respond to you...
However, if the fact that every font design starts with the letters H & O fascinates you, or you wonder how people design fonts with (or without) serifs, then this film about "The Font Men" will be wildly satisfying.
Did you catch Hoefler's comment that he used to feel defensive about why the world needed more typefaces; how new designs "felt like an extravagance"?
Isn't innovation ALWAYS an extravagance?
Think about what wouldn't be made if "extravagance" disqualified change? For example, no one NEEDED a cell phone; landlines were perfectly efficient. When cell phones came along, the idea of a making them smarter seemed ridiculous.
When Henry Ford reflected on the innovation of the automobile, he famously said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
The opportunity for innovation is something beyond what's in the current marketplace - even in the typography space!