How Washington, D.C., ended up with the same official font as fast-food chain Shake Shack
It's called "Neutra," and you see it every time you turn on HBO's Girls, order a SmokeShack from Shake Shack, or go to a Washington Nationals game. And now the hipster-chic, thin, mid-century font is officially the typeface of Washington, D.C.
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"Whatever we're promoting, whether it's summer camp or a public health test, we want to make sure that it looks and feels like a government product," Michael Czin, director of communications for the mayor's office, told Wired.
So how exactly did our nation's capital decide on a font? Let Wired explain:
[Designer Andy] Cruz credits the font's "certain stylistic but non-descript feel." "I think it has that comforting authority to it," he says.[Designer Paula] Scher doesn't regard the font as neutral, saying that it harkens back to a specific moment in time — the midcentury — which makes it an odd choice for a city government. "It's a retro font," she says. What does it have to do with progress? Then again — this is Washington D.C. [Wired]
