John Coulthart on Jonathan Barnbrook’s Mason font

John Coulthart on Jonathan Barnbrook’s Mason font which he fears will soon be known as the His Dark Materials font now it’s being used by the films of Pullman’s novels. People occasionally laugh at my fascination with fonts, especially as I’m by no stretch a typographer, but this is a good illustration of why they’re culturally interesting. They’re full of meaning which changes as they are used. This is why Helvetica is such a powerful font, socially speaking. It is everywhere yet still commands respect, it’s power not diluted by ubiquity. This implies it has an intrinsic connection with out society. What is that connection? (I really can’t wait to see that film…)