- Mangaka : Kuniichi Ashiya, Masayuki Yamamoto
- Publisher : Seven Seas Entertainment
- Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life
- Published : November 2020
Introduction
Fonts are something that’s been with us for ages. In our opinion, it’s something that is severely underappreciated and mostly goes unnoticed. Think about it, fonts are literally everywhere. From brands, books, media, manga, and, of course, this article. That said, there’re a heck ton of fonts out there, and it can be easily confused when learning about them. Among the thousands of fonts, there are a few handful that are often used in almost everything. That said, they are every designer’s precious tools.
Contains Spoilers
Discussion Time
What the Font?! – A Manga Guide to Western Typeface is a pure educational, but entertaining manga. It showcases various popular fonts like Helvetica, Arial, Futura, etc. Still, it’s not a bland wall of words. Instead, it is illustrated in a 4koma format. The short spiels are both very informative and entertaining to read. Of course, four panels are not enough to tell a font’s history and all of its glory, so a small chunk of words is added on the left side of the page, as well as a whole page dedicated to a font per arc.
1. It Teaches Better Than School
Fonts are included in some schools’ curriculum. However, they are mostly just taught in passing or just taught for the sake of following the curriculum. Even if they are thought in all seriousness, it can get pretty… boring. We’re saying that in a very objective manner. What the Font?! – A Manga Guide to Western Typeface, however, teaches us about each font within a short span of an arc what a classroom will take an hour to discuss. More so, it does so in a very fun format. Plus, it doesn’t just teach us about the font’s aesthetics and its uses, but even tells us it’s anthropomorphic origins.
2. A Quirky Look at Fonts
For most of us that are not really designers, we focus more on how pretty, cute, or cool a font looks like when choosing which to use, and that’s valid. Even What the Font?! – A Manga Guide to Western Typeface validates our claim on this. Nonetheless, they are aesthetically pleasing in a completely different sense as what we call people aesthetically pleasing. This manga, however, gives faces to each font. Not only that, it also characterizes them in a very interesting way. Helvetica, for example, is considered as the mediator between the fonts.
1.More Educational Than Plot-centered
It’s not really new for manga to be used in teaching its readers. In fact, there are others out there. That said, expecting a love, adventure, action, or dark plot for this manga isn’t something you should do. But if you do expect a sizable plot, then you’re better off dropping this book altogether. That is not gonna happen in the book. And if you’re not into educational stuff, then this book can easily come off as boring.
Final Thoughts
What the Font?! – A Manga Guide to Western Typeface is a very interesting and entertaining manga. At the same time, it teaches a whole lot when it comes to fonts. Most of which are things that we often neglect, since we basically just judge fonts at face value. The question is “Is that information important?” To font aficionados, yes. To normal folk like us, maybe not so much. Still, they are cool facts to know.
Author: Christian Markle