1.11.2010

Al Gore and the inconvenient... number 1?

Last night I had a chuckle reading this account on how Al Gore requested that the number 1 be changed in the font for his new book. Can you even imagine?

Last summer, I received a phone call from Michael, a designer from mgmtdesign in Brooklyn, New York. After the initial how-do-you-do’s, he explained that they were designing a new book for Al Gore, Our Choice, the sequel to An Inconvenient Truth.

“Great project”, I said.

And it got even better. They had chosen Brioni, one of our typefaces, for the body text.

“And this is why I am calling now”, said Michael, his voice dropping a level. “You see, Al is really involved with the project and we spend a lot of time working together in the publisher’s office. When he was reviewing the proofs, he had a comment about the typeface.”

I took a deep breath and asked what the comment was.

“Basically, he wants you to change the numeral one.”


It turns out the numeral 1 looked more like a Roman numeral (I), which caused some confusion when paired with capitals, so the font designer touched up the number 1 so it looked more traditional.

Fun story; I can't imagine very many times where an ex-Vice President (and Noble Prize winner) calls regarding a font, nevermind "I like your font so much that I'm going to use it, but the number 1 really isn't working for me."

(via Design Observer)

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