Not Tropeworthy: Typeset In The Future

I came across this recently through the random trope button. A quick once over shows it has at least 20 near-ZCE's. However, the ZCE's seem to point to a deeper problem. From the description: "Eurostile ... are sans-serif fonts used in many Science Fiction films to give a futuristic feel. The presence of these fonts ... helps viewers to understand the setting of the scene." I have difficulty seeing how this is a meaningful trope.

Yes the broad idea that a visual style can convey a theme is tropeworthy. However this trope seems far too narrow to actually be meaningful. I originally thought this was a subtrope or related to Ascetic Aesthetic or Everything Is An I Pod In The Future. Categorically, they are related. But a single font family alone is not meaningful. The majority of examples being ZCE's are an example of this. For example: "WALL•E uses Eurostile for its on-wall direction signs." The why is missing. But there isn't much why I can think of beyond "the creators wanted a font with a futuristic look." Of course, this is somewhat of an exaggeration, and there may very well be more in-depth context for some examples.

Further, there is already a Fonts useful notes that covers a wide variety of fonts, their meanings, and some examples.

I put forward three proposals for moving forward

• Delete the trope and add section to Fonts useful notes. Exactly What It Says on the Tin. If the trope is decided to be truly untropeworthy then it has no place as a trope. As it is a young trope with less than 30 examples and a short description, it is not incredibly painful to cut. It's still on the "pages needing wicks index." There isn't much downside except for the authors and contributors time and effort in creating it.
• Send the Trope back to YKTTW to be inclusive of all futuristic fonts. It would be a true subtrope of Everything Is An I Pod In The Future. It could mutually share some examples and the central concepts might mesh. The downside is futuristic fonts alone might still not be tropeworthy.
• There is also the possibility of rolling it into The Aesthetics of Technology. I have not read the trope much, but it does seem related and is on the table.

I am personally in favor of the first proposal to delete it and add it to the fonts useful notes. It is a fairly shallow subject, and does not have far reaching implications alone. Given how many of the examples are ZCE's and that fact it has low wicks, I think it's still young enough for a painless cut. But, it requires strong consensus that it is not tropeworthy. The second proposal is also feasible, but draws the issue out longer. Even then, it is possible it could still not be tropeworthy.

Main points for discussion

• Is it tropeworthy? Think in terms of this specific trope, not styles to convey meaning.
• Is it too narrow? This is essentially over one font family.
• Are the ZCE's an example of a core problem or just many bad examples? It launched like this.

Also, this is my first TRS in a long time. I haven't done one since the new TRS approval system was implemented. Apologies for writing a large block, but I wanted to give a fair summary of the issue and a roadmap.

Edit: Altered the proposals in light of the existing fonts useful notes page.

edited 25th Apr '16 11:52:00 AM by pokedude10

Note that there is already UsefulNotes.Fonts.

I don't think broadening this trope will make it more tropeworthy. It seems an outlier because there aren't other tropes about typography.

Agreed. I don't know how I missed the useful notes for fonts. Seeing that now, deleting this page and adding a piece to the useful notes seems like the right path. I'll edit the proposals to reflect this.

There is one. Font Anachronism. Not much else, though.

Edit: Nope, that one's Trivia.

edited 25th Apr '16 12:09:13 PM by HeraldAlberich

I say it should just be cut. The trope is literally a specific type of font that shows up occasionally in media.

I vote cut.

I'd say it's a valid trope about audience expectation of how the future will look like. We have numerous other tropes in that area (see We Will Not Use an Index in the Future). I'd call for a rename to We Will Use Eurostyle Font In The Future and be done.

Expand on that. Tropes about the future are valid, but how is a font alone valid as a meaningful trope? We already have a useful notes for fonts and their common usage in media.

If my perception is right, some time in the past they started using this font for futuristic settings and over time it has established itself as a valid shorthand for "we are in the future". It has all it takes to be a trope.

edited 15th May '16 10:31:05 AM by eroock

It is a trope. It is a visual shorthand used to set the scene, just like using faux-Cyrillic to indicate Russia.

Hmm. Good point. But I think Faux-Cyrillic is notable because it's "faux". If it was real Russian using the real Cyrillic alphabet, then that wouldn't be meaningful. It would just be some Russian writing. A font alone, even if it's shorthand for the futuristic settings, doesn't seem enough to be it's own trope page. I'm not saying we should just get rid of everything. It would just make more sense as it's own point in the Fonts Useful Notes page.

edited 9th Jun '16 2:44:35 PM by pokedude10

I don't think it's cut worthy. There's something there, and we have plenty of tropes about aesthetics, and even the OP makes point to deepen the trope, it's a minimalist font which can work with other minimalist indicator of futurism (Like Everything IS An AI Pod In The Future).

So far, i'd say I got two minds

A) Keep as is, maybe rename to We Will Use Eurostyle Font In The Future. Expand on some of the minimalist implications. Take queues on how Standard Human Spaceship explains what its own aesthetic choices conveys meaning.

B) Broaden the trope to include all use of fonts to tie to specific time periods or settings or even tones. Eurostyle = Future (In particular sleek future), Exocet = Magic / Supernatural (Diablo and Planescape both use it). Gothic font = Medieval / "Legendary / Fabled" time. Terminal Font = Cyberpunk, near future, or the 80s/90s (i'm brainstorming) If any type becomes so numerous, we could make subtropes. This could require a re-visit to YKTTW.

edited 9th Jun '16 8:40:14 PM by Ghilz

Looking up the font on wikipedia, I see a much more serious problem with this trope.

Eurostyle is not distinctive. It is not the Star Trek font, which anyone would recognise. It is some random font. That looks vaguely futuristic.

This isn't people sit on chairs. This is sometimes the set dresser puts five wheeled chairs in office spaces. Still weird to trope.

For context. The reason why specific fonts are often used in movies and whatnot is simply they are cheap and look the part.