Eh B C

So Canada has its own font now. Well kind of; a font maker has created a font to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday in 2017. What's so Canadian about it? For one thing, it - unlike many fonts - can be used for all languages used in Canada, including the syllabic symbols used with Cree and Inuktitut. And I'm glad to see that the overall look seems to be inspired by one of my all-time favorites: the Toronto subway font.

Wired complains that it has some problems, which is just the kind of pretentious perfectionism I always seem to see from font-o-philes. Have a look and you'll see it looks completely - oh my, that middle line in the "B" does look strange doesn't it? I guess it does need a bit of work, but it's a nice start.

But here's the funny/sad/bitterly symbolic part: although you don't have to pay to use it, you can't just download it. As with other symbols of the anniversary, you have to apply for permission. Even though the font was a gift, rather than a taxpayer-funded project, it still feels wrong not to just let anyone have it. Keeping tight control over branding on a national celebration seems downright Harperian.

So if I can't use our national font, I'll use an athlete's font. It turns out that's the latest thing for a transcendent athlete celebrity. A few years back, I wrote a post about athletes with their own logos, but apparently that's passe. Now, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant have fonts based on their logos. I guess that could be useful: if you've got your own logo for branding proposes, you might as well go for other things, like fonts, slogans, or colour schemes. Okay, color schemes could be bad for an athlete, since it would limit you to only signing with teams that don't clash with you.

As part of the aforementioned post on athlete logos, I created my own. So now I apparently have to make my own personal font. Well, I don't have time right now, so maybe tomorrow.