put away that gun, this part is simple

OK, it's Friday, so nothing wrong with a bit of frivolity. So let's continue with the 'title taken from song lyrics' theme, but move up a decade. This one's from the 80s, and thirty brownie points if you can tell me where it's from. As a hint, this is who you were listening to if you were anywhere near an art school in the first half of that decade. And, no, it's not Joy Division. (Look, I know what you're thinking. But if it's good enough for Russell and his horse, it's good enough for me. Right?)

Anyway, it hides my embarrassment because the original title was 'b for blunder' - and I should have posted it on Monday, but I was sort of too busy fighting one or two deadlines. Because it was Ben (no, not that Ben) who pointed out that if I posted two typefaces a week for a year, I'd end up with 104 fonts, not 52. Just as well I'm not in charge of the Bank of England, otherwise yesterday would have seen either a halving or a doubling of interest rates. Still, at least that would have been interesting (pun intended).

But I have had an upsurge of interest in the 52 fonts idea, thanks almost entirely to John's nice recommendation over here (thanks John). So I hope you'll all come back next week to see what 'B' is going to sit snugly opposite Bodoni.

Of course, the really difficult bit for me (well, apart from the mathematics) will arrive when I get to the letter 'X'. But Rob has kindly offered to help me out. He writes:

"After I had finished looking at your site (which I enjoyed very much) I decided to delve deeper into the fonts beginning with 'X' issue. I have a book entitled 'The Encyclopaedia of Fonts' by Gwyn Headley which is an excellent book for dipping in every now and again for inspiration when I come unstuck and end up using 'helvetica'!! (or arial, times etc...) I went straight to the back of the book which lists all the fonts in the book in alphabetical order and looked for 'X'. It wasn't there!! I then opened my (much too large) font library and looked under 'X' I found the aforementioned 'XeroxMalfunction' and a font called 'Xylo'. OK so it's a font beginning with X but it certainly wouldn't be a good font for everyday use, more of a speciality font (minimal contrast, big bubble characters etc.). I then searched the Linotype library and found 'Xander' ...still no good ...very much a script font (does look good though and I will have to use it somewhere as I love the CAPITILISED characters).

I just wanted to tell you about this little voyage of discovery as I would never have gone on it had it not been for your post. It also seems to me that constricting yourself to design/research with fonts that begin with specific letters is an excellent way to bring out creativity with typography. I am extremely interested in the subject of creativity and how narrowing your view can expand your inspiration.

I am sure you will get many emails along your year long font exploration/journey giving you ideas for each and every letter of the alphabet. Good luck narrowing them down to two each time!! instead of giving you an idea I have decided (after 2 years of research into typography) to design my first font. It will begin and end with the letter 'X'!!"

Rob, you have exactly 45 weeks.

Meanwhile, the mystery over whether Richard Madeley is the real Richard Madeley deepens. And both Mike and I are now thoroughly confused. Richard, if you're reading this, do me a favour and tell Vanessa Feltz that Ben will be waiting for her next week. Cheers.

Comments

[Richard Madeley]

I never understand why people can’t (or perhaps won’t) understand that it’s really me. I’m an intelligent man, living in the information age, who enjoys blogging. I have talent, money, good looks, and many funny stories about my celebrity friends. So why shouldn’t I blog? It’s a damn sight better than most blogs I read. I mean have you read them? Tedious banter about the lives of people you’ve never heard of. Who wants to read that?

The thing with Vanessa is that we’re not talking. It’s a long story and perhaps one day I’ll tell it. If your friend really wants to meet her, I could pull strings but I’d prefer not to. It feels a little too close to pimping out my celebrity friends. Or enemies, in Vanessa’s case.

So good to have found all these 'design' blogs. When the Channel 4 contract runs out, I'm considering a change in career.

[david george]

It's the Talking Heads I think?
This Richard Madeley stuff is interesting (& I hope it is real), I occasionally see the 'real man' buying a copy of each and every daily newspaper at a newsagent/Spa very near where I live. He has a property down here, not that appearances ever give much away but he didn't look like a 'design' blogger (far too tidy).

[george]

a little tip on the richard madeley front, just look at the little line of text at the very bottom of the page...

[Craig]

The devil is in the details (taken from the footer of "Richard Madeley's" site):

Disclaimer for the slow and the gullible: the blog known as ‘The Richard Madeley Appreciation Society’ is a complete work of fiction © Copyright, 2007, The Man Who is Not Richard Madeley.