Iceland review - 2007, Page 60

66 ICELAND REVIEW
Much Ado About Fonts
Oscar Bjarnason is a self-proclaimed “font freak” with affinities
for Macs, typography books, and tight deadlines, which is
prob ably not too surprising for a 31-year-old graphic designer
with an eye for style most of us will never have. Two of his favorite
fonts are Gotham, designed by Tobias Frere-Jones (brother of
Sasha Frere-Jones, pop music critic for The New Yorker), and
Whomp, designed by Alejandro Paul. Don’t bother looking for
them on your computer, Mac or PC, because neither come stand-
ard. Bjarnason was one of several designers the New York Times
asked recently to critique the redesign of the New York City taxi
logo, which he recalls thinking was, well, far from perfect. He
had the option to submit his own proposal (though the new
logo had already officially been accepted) and had one night in
which to do it. His design, along with some of the others, was fea-
t ured in a Metro section story, which sparked massive reader re-
sponses, mostly from gruff New Yorkers baffled by the officially
chosen logo. IR combed through part of Bjarnason’s portfolio and
did the dirty work for you: choosing some of his best designs. SB
To check out more of Bjarnason’s work, visit analog.sys.is.
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