Designer whinge #4321

I am a bit late to this debate, but it's explainable as I have been "WORKING" and not "FUCKING ABOUT ON TWITTER", which by going by the screens I walk past everyday, is all that designers do nowadays.

Now this whinge is centered on the mega-box office flick Avatar, and James Cameron's choice of Papyrus as the logotype for the film...and apparently the subtitles, but I wouldn't know as I have been working and not 'fucking about on twitter raving about how good avatar was'.

This 'blog debate' came in the form of this blog post from the appropriately titled 'pr*tty sh*tty'. Krut Vonnegut would have been proud as its the only blog I have seen with two assholes in the title. The debate 'raged' here, designers were typically outraged that Papyrus was used. The debate focused on the aesthetic crime that using Papyrus was. Others tried to up the level of intelligence by referring to less subjective goals such as 'readability'. However, I suspect only the most degraded typeface would be unreadable when shown at the size of a cinema screen.

Anyway, if you can't be bothered to find my comment, here it is. My first comment, which was actually really succint, was eaten by the internet when the posting mechanism broke down. Alas, this one isn't nearly so crafted. But in a nutshell: "Design should concern itself with more serious issues than style"

Honestly, how important is this issue to warrent 176+ posts in reply?

If you're not a designer the choice of Papyrus over any other font is arbitrary and considering Avatar, with its 'crappy logotype' is the 2nd highest gorssing movie ever, shows the negligible impact the logotype has. Infact, the only impact it seems to have had is to raise the ire of a few style snobs.

Design has a far more relevant role to play in life and furious debate about the aesthetic unsuitability of a logotype confirms the myth that design is only concerned with irrelevant surface details and is full of whimsical aesthetic decisions of little importance.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, but as long as designers take 'issue' with things like this, then you only have yourself to blame if people don't take the profession seriously.