How does a typeface "sparkle"?

jectives
jectives Posts: 3
in Type Education
I don't often see the term "sparkle" used, but when I do, I'm always a bit perplexed as to what exactly it is implying. I'm sure some of you have used this to describe your own fonts or those of others. Can you help me understand how a typeface can sparkle?

Thanks,
Curtis

Answers

  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 2,056
    It helps if it’s also classic yet modern.
  • Joshua Langman
    Joshua Langman Posts: 143
    To me this suggests high contrast and abrupt shifts between thicks and thins, perhaps with extra-pointy serifs and terminals.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,839
    edited 3:01AM
    There might be a few different things implied by this. Sometimes when people talk about a typeface ‘sparkling’ or ‘dazzling’ what they are actually referring to is phenomena in perception of text, which usually result from a particular typeface being used at an inappropriate size, but may also involve things like choice of paper or rendering environment on screen. I don’t think ‘sparkle’ is a singular phenomenon with one cause, but rather a collection of phenomena characterised by the perception of overall colour (texture) of the text as unsettled. So rather than perceiving an even texture within a narrow spatial frequency, the reader has a sense of shifting light and dark as he or she tries to focus. Fine hairlines and details rendered too small shift in and out of resolution during reading, because our eyes are constantly moving even during fixations. This requires extra effort, and makes reading tiring.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 3,206
    I have generally suspected that it meant one or more of:
    1. high thick/thin contrast, but with the thinnest bits being very or unreasonably thin
    2. high contrast even within a stroke… generally meaning spiky Latin serifs, especially if they are long ones
    3. (1) and/or (2) when the applications of these things is inconsistent, especially if in a way that distracts from reading
    Arguably mine is just a narrower version of John’s take.
  • Joshua Langman
    Joshua Langman Posts: 143
    Here's a sparkly font, so labeled by its designers: https://commercialtype.com/catalog/farnham/farnham_text
  • John Butler
    John Butler Posts: 367
    Galliard, Mantinia, Arrus, Warnock, and Zapf Renaissance come to mind.

Categories