Friend or Font?

Remember the Adam Ant song 'Friend or Foe"? - Great Song! It was around the time of that song and I think it was Ronald Reagan who was credited with uttering the following quote
(pearl of wisdom) :

"Surround yourself with good people, delegate authority and don't interfere!".

Regardless of the quote's historical or political context (or ramifications), if you think about it, It's really true! You should surround yourself with good people, delegate authority and don't interfere -

UNLESS ...

...you're General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn - you're surrounded by good people, they just happen to be Indians.

- you should just play dead and let your horses run interference.

Most graphic/type artists settle down into using only a handful of fonts (or less). Often they have developed an entire style based on their familiarity with and use of certain fonts. This can be independent of any page rendering system. Over time and experience they have come to know the nature and allowances of a specific typeface - backwards and forwards - and so have surrounded themselves with good fonts, delegated authority to them and interfere only when neccessary.


Getting to know a font is much like getting to know a person. The context may be only professional at first but over time, you have them over for a tennis match and a beer (not neccessarily in that order)