Journal Entry 10: Helvetica: the sometimes unhealthy obsession.

While I'm pretty sure this doesn't count as a real entry, I still think it's kind of ironic-funny and hilarious that these men chose to have something regarding Helvetica tattooed on their persons. I had to post these pictures. I'm curious as to what their motives were...maybe they thought it would get them into the industry door faster? Almost like, "OMG I LOVE HELVETICA SO MUCH SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE HELVETICA YOU HAVE TO HIRE ME I'M SO HARDCORE!!1!!!!!11" Apparently the second picture, of the man with "I <3 Helvetica" on his back, was already in the industry and had this tattooed as a testament to his dedication to design. Still, I find this kind of cliche, you know? I like Helvetica and think it is a great typeface for lots of things, but it seems to be the "go-to" typeface for most breakout or learning designers.

This also got me to thinking about typefaces used in tattooing. Some of the older, retro tattoo typefaces are very wonderfully made and very beautiful. But not all of them are. While perusing ugliesttattoos.com (NSFW, FYI) I noticed that nearly all of them are nasty prison-tat quality. WTF? If you are putting something permanently on your body like that, shouldn't you consider all aspects of the tattoo- design and typography included? Or have today's tattoo artists become too lax?

A question for the ages.