Typophile - Question mark forms - Comments

Just noticed this question

Florian Hardwig — Sat, 2 Feb 2008 13:53:56 -0800

Just noticed this question mark in a newspaper headline:

It almost has kind of a Hebrew touch, no?

What Pattyfab said. Stempel

akma — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:46:00 -0800

What Pattyfab said. Stempel Schneidler’s question mark weakens the whole typeface.

Patty, the question mark for

Miss Tiffany — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:44:34 -0800

Patty, the question mark for Weiss is marginally more useful.

Needed one in the title of

Rez Oo — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:23:33 -0800

Needed one in the title of this post for those who havent seen it and a little touch of ’wit’ :P

—
Rez +

Word.

Florian Hardwig — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:17:16 -0800

Word.

Most useless question mark

pattyfab — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:23:48 -0800

Most useless question mark hands down is Stempel Schneidler.

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/stempel-schneidler/

I had someone flip it over for me when I used this font for a book.

Hi Jarrod, I don’t think

Florian Hardwig — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:33:39 -0800

Hi Jarrod,

I don’t think this form has a special name. Be the first and make one up …

You can read about the origin of the question mark and fonts with a dramatic question mark in these older threads.
F

Yeah, it looks a bit like

Don McCahill — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:32:31 -0800

Yeah, it looks a bit like someone took a baseball bat to an exclamation point, doesn’t it.

I know of no terminology for this. It is somewhat like the ampersand, another character where a designer can have a bit of fun with the character shape, as long as he/she does not go too far. (And I don’t think that the Borges example is _too_ far out).

Question mark forms

begsini — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:51:12 -0800

hi all,

i noticed on the front page a question mark set in Borges Titulo - it
seems to be of the general form where the upper part wants to shoot off
into never-neverland rather than curling back down.

it reminds me of the one in Scala Sans - my main disappointment/irritation
in an otherwise great typeface.

does anyone know about this kind of question mark? is this style part of
a general class of question mark designs? does it have a name?
what is the history of it or inspiration for that form?

thanks,
jarrod