Typographers discuss the euro
In December 1996 when the shape of the euro symbol was announced, discussion on TYPO-L ensued. A selection of this correspondence is given here.
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 14:36:52 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro symbolThe front page of the European this week (12-18 December 1996) shows a proposed design for the 'euro' symbol (i.e. the currency symbol for our proposed European single currency). The article describes it as a 'post modern pretzel' [I wasn't aware that pretzels came out of the modern movement, but you learn something every day <g>] It is a monoline three quarters circular arc, the open quarter to the right, with the ends cut off at an angle (the top sharply angled like Syntax, the bottom straight like Gill), and two horizontal bars cutting through arc, their ends both angled. There is a diagram which shows its impressive geometrical construction. The design is to be submitted to the EU Heads of State meeting in Dublin.
I thought this was interesting on a number of grounds. First off, I doubt the UNICODE specification includes a slot for the Euro -- and since it may (just) become the single most used currency symbol in Europe, presumably this omission needs to be rectified. No doubt it also means that font encodings and character vectors will have to be similarly revised, and new keyboard layouts and designs developed.
But what interested me most was that the designer(?s) has treated it as a logotype -- to appear in one set style only. This seems to be in flagrant disregard of previous currency symbols, which are interpreted according to the font. It is also hard to discern which characteristics are essential, and which contingent, so that it might be adapted. As it is presently constructed, it would look truly abysmal fronting up a set of figures in any seriffed type. But the quirky finials mean that it will also look odd with sans -- even monoline sans like Futura would be set off uncomfortably. And there is also no indication of how it could be modulated for weight -- so it raises the spectre of incompatibility not only by style but also by density.
The piece quotes Franco Bonardio, creative director of Landor in London (although it doesn't actually identify them as responsible for it). He says:
'We like the openness of the 'e' character; and the association between the currency and Europe is easily recognised. The effect is one of precision and confidence. It is a non-controversial design which we think will become established very quickly.'
James
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 14:45:54 -0500 From: James Grieshaber Subject: Re: Euro symbolResponding to James' comments:
I'm an American living in a not so cosmopolitan city, so I think I would have a hard time finding a copy of the European weekly that you mentioned.
But I agree that although a new symbol may be needed, it should be proposed as a general idea, not specific geometric dimensions.
I urge you to snail mail the post you just wrote to the editors of that publication as a voice of concerned designers/type designers everywhere. You could sign my name to it if you like.
James Grieshaber
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 22:19:27 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro symbol
I've emailed the European with a letter outlining some of the main concerns. However, I'm not hopeful that the intricacies of type design are likely to find their way onto the letters page -- but then, these days, who knows?
James
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 22:29:05 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro symbolBTW
I thought this was interesting:
'Lawyers at the European Commission are examining whether to patent a euro symbol, making it the first copyrighted currency sign in the world.'I wonder if there will be a time when we have to negotiate intellectual property rights to the basic forms of the glyphs we put in a font? Does anyone think that the Bank of England might be able to retrospectively trademark the pound, or the State Department start licensing the dollar? And who actually owns our alphabet? Might Bill Gates be able to buy it up, along with the rights to the world's great art?
James
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 18:44:02 -0200 From: John Langdon Subject: Re: Euro symbol etc.James Souttar wrote regarding the Euro symbol, including the quote,
' It is a non-controversial design which we think will become established very quickly.'Hm. A pre-emptive strike? -- JL
and later he wrote:
And who actually owns our alphabet? Might Bill Gates be able to buy it up, along with the rights to the world's great art?Using the alphabet illegally might be even more fun than with the taken-for-granted impunity with which we use it now! -- JL
Kathryn Sheller wrote:
Just so you know that there are still some people in the world (or at least in the US) not always waiting to be offended.Kathryn, that is good to know, indeed. And my German (ancestry) wife agrees. -- JL
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 23:36:26 -0500 From: Patrick TJ McPhee Subject: Re: Euro symbol[James Soutar, writing about an article in The European:]
There is a diagram which shows [the euro's] impressive geometrical construction. The design is to be submitted to the EU Heads of State meeting in Dublin.I thought this was interesting on a number of grounds. [...]
But what interested me most was that the designer(?s) has treated it as a logotype -- to appear in one set style only. This seems to be in flagrant disregard of previous currency symbols, which are interpreted according to the font. It is also hard to discern which characteristics are essential, and which contingent, so that it might be adapted. [...]
Just another (important, I think) point about this -- the symbol has to be written by hand. If it's difficult to do so, the symbol might not be used by many people. It will be interesting to see common practice makes of the situation.
[now quoting Franco Bonardio]
It is a non-controversial design which we think will become established very quickly.
This sentence made me think of a comic I saw a few months ago. Kenny G* gets into an elevator and listens for a second, then he says 'wow, cutting edge!'.
[* if you don't know who Kenny G is, please send me detailed directions to your locale]
Patrick TJ McPhee
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 12:33:32 +0000 From: Laurence Penney Subject: Re: Euro symbolPatrick McPhee wrote:
... the symbol has to be written by hand. If it's difficult to do so, the symbol might not be used by many people. It will be interesting to see common practice makes of the situation.We'll have to wait a while to see what kind of shapes people make by hand before the range of acceptable/interesting font-specific euro-symbols becomes apparent. I think it's OK to announce a glyph in a single style initially, but I dread the idea that there will be "officially" only this for ever (like the "e" symbol for approximate weight).
On another note, what symbol(s) should we use in the meantime, before all fonts have the new character? The letter E is the only thing I can suggest. Please not dollar or "currency-symbol"!
Laurence Penney
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 11:41:34 -0500 From: "Woolley, Susan O" Subject: Re: Euro symbolI seem to recall seeing a comment a couple of months ago -- I forget where -- criticizing this new symbol for having a close resemblance to the old Commodore logo!
Susan Woolley, Director of Publications, Moravian College
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 15:45:59 +0000 From: Edward Burke Subject: Re: Euro symbolPatrick TJ McPhee wrote:
Just another (important, I think) point about this -- the symbol has to be written by hand. If it's difficult to do so, the symbol might not be used by many people. It will be interesting to see common practice makes of the situation.I have't seen the new symbol yet, but I guess if it proves to be a bit complicated in design, people will treat it as they do when trying to handwrite an ampersand i.e. do the best they can -- and there are some very weird handwritten examples of the ampersand around, but it still gets understood. A very good point though Patrick and one which any good designer worth his/her salt would be expected to bear in mind beforehand -- which begs the question, who made the arrangements for the tender of this design? Did it even go out to tender at all?
Ed Burke
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 20:08:55 +0200 From: "Rolf F. Rehe" Subject: Re: Euro symbolEd Burke wrote:
A very good point though Patrick and one which any good designer worth his/her salt would be expected to bear in mind beforehand -- which begs the question, who made the arrangements for the tender of this design? Did it even go out to tender at all?I haven't followed the discussion about the Euro design too closely, but for those of you who have, it has just been announced that the Austrian designer Robert Kaliena has been the winner of a contest for the look of the new Euro.
I don't know if that is the same design that has been under discussion, but the news item might be important enough to warrant a photo, which you may see in your newspaper of tomorrow.
Evidently there was a design contest in all EU member countries, and it resulted in 44 entries.
Rolf F. Rehe
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 20:43:34 +0200 From: Erik van Blokland Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!
From: Edward Burke
I have't seen the new symbol yet,The thing I saw in the newspaper this morning looked like a very light antique olive capital C with two horizontal crossbars, with the top bar somewhat longer as the bottom one. It was presented as being based on the Epsilon glyph.
I guess the double crossbar is supposed to invoke memories of dollars and pounds.
IMO, it looks more like a C than an E. I sincerely hope the typedesigners of the world will get their own and better versions out there. This won't be much of a challenge, because this one sucks. It's even worse than the 'e' symbol [the ESTIMATED SIGN U+212E] the EU created for the packaging industry, which resembles a lowercase bodoni e drawn by a demented math teacher. Type design (and currency design), and (to hell with it) ANY design should be left to individuals rather than committees.
This does not mean I'm necessarily a eurosecptic, I just think they should stick to convening and spending money and leave the typedesign to people that know something about it.
Erik van Blokland
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 20:09:51 -0500 From: Richard Weltz Subject: Re: Euro symbolIn a message dated 96-12-13 07:27:59 EST, you write:
<< And who actually owns our alphabet? >>
According to the US Copyright Office and the courts (Eltra vs. Ringer) the alphabet belongs to the public and cannot be monopolized, even in various guises that may be devised.
Dick Weltz
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 13:52:39 -0500 From: Neil Kandalgaonkar Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!Erik wrote:
The thing I saw in the newspaper this morning looked like a very light antique olive capital C with two horizontal crossbars, with the top bar somewhat longer as the bottom one. It was presented as being based on the Epsilon glyph.Confusion... in my paper this morning (Montreal Gazette), it was printed like this:
/ |l \ \_||_/ l|Did they screw this up? is it supposed to look more like C with an = sign through it?
I guess the double crossbar is supposed to invoke memories of dollars and pounds.It reminds me more of a yen symbol.
-- Neil Kandalgaonkar njk@microtec.net
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 14:16:56 +0200 From: Erik van Blokland Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!
From: Neil Kandalgaonkar, njk@MICROTEC.NETI saw it in two separate newspapers, basically the symbol you transcribe above, but rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Not that it gets much better though. Very difficult to space that shape because it is round on the left side, as a cap C, so it needs a small left sidebearing, but with these two thingies sticking out it gets more than it needs, creating a big gap.
Confusion... in my paper this morning (Montreal Gazette), it was printed like this:/ |l \ \_||_/ l|Did they screw this up? is it supposed to look more like C with an = sign through it?
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Obvious choice, can only be missed with great effort and funding.
A big national newspaper in Holland called the new Euro banknotes "tracework with clumsy typography". The first time I saw the word typography in a headline this big on the frontpage. IMO the notes are awful.
Erik van Blokland
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 14:20:23 -0500 From: Neil Kandalgaonkar Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!
Very difficult to space that shape because it is round on the left side, as a cap C, so it needs a small left sidebearing, but with these two thingies sticking out it gets more than it needs, creating a big gap.Just for fun, last night I tried creating Euro symbols for some typefaces I'm working on. I encountered exactly the problems you describe -- I couldn't think of a way to do it that wasn't very ugly. And as for bitmaps...
####### ## ####### ## ####### ## #######Even if you merge those two crossbars into one, it still looks like a sideways Space Invader.
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Obvious choice, can only be missed with great effort and funding.
Much better, and more flexible. I was trying to dream up some alternatives too, and I thought maybe a cursive, swashy 'E' might do -- in the same spirit as the L for pound (livre). The only problem might be differentiating it from the ampersand in some fonts.
-- Neil Kandalgaonkar njk@microtec.net
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 21:06:13 -0200 From: John Langdon Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!Erik van Blokland wrote:
Type design (and currency design), and (to hell with it) ANY design should be left to individuals rather than committees.Not to mention currency design. Have you all seen the new $100 U.S. Federal Reserve note? It is the very model of a modern major disaster, as clearly wrought by a committee. (See my critique of the design in the winter issue of CRITIQUE magazine.) -- JL
Alan Ludwig wrote:
Is it what type represents to us, words and their power? Is it that we sense how strongly intertwined are the style and the substance of what that style conveys? Is it that we somehow hope that the next new typeface will enable us to break forth into new avenues of expression? Is it the sheer beauty and artistry of type? Or is it some combination?Yes. To all. Although question #3 seems the least likely, or most shallow and typical of young typophiles. It was certainly true of me a long while ago............. -- JL
John Langdon
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 11:36:07 +0200 From: "Rolf F. Rehe" Subject: Re: Euro symbolIn a message dated 96-12-14 Dick Weltz writes:
There was a picture in the NY Times today (Sunday). The accompanying article made three major points about the design: (1) that the "historic" architecture depicted is fictional; (2) the only wording to appear is the word EURO itself (although this was shown in both Latin and Greek letters); and (3) that, at the insistence of the UK, who want the Queen's head on any of their currency, a small space has been left open on each side of the bill for individual nations to insert a national symbol.In today's (Monday) edition of the German newsmagazine DER SPIEGEL a story states that "not only colors and sizes, but also the themes" for the new Euro were prescribed to the designers. While I think there's very little typography in the design itself and it is "middle of the road," clearly a chance to set a sign and come up with a bold, innovative design (reflecting the bold, innovative idea of the united Europe) has been missed -- und not necessarily by the designer, but rather by the committee(s).
But considering the number of countries (and subsequent committees) involved, it seems a major miracle that a workable design emerged at all.
Rolf F. Rehe
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 11:33:39 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro symbolEd:
...which begs the question, who made the arrangements for the tender of this design? Did it even go out to tender at all?Although the article I read didn't actually identify Landor as responsible, the extensive quote from the Landor spokesperson certainly seemed to imply this was the case.
One can safely assume a pitch -- perhaps three way -- between leading identity firms.
This is probably exactly what is wrong with the design. It has been treated as if it were to be a logotype -- displaying almost unbelievable naivete on the part of the designers (reinforced by the ludicrous notion of copyrighting it).
Had the 'client' know what they were doing (let's hope the fiscal side of this project is more competently managed!) they should have pitched it to a group of type designers -- and the brief should have been to develop a glyph that could be added to any type design (as well as handwritten), including their thoughts about where it was going to fit with existing character sets and keyboard layouts. And I'd have expected to see proposals (if I were the client) where the new glyph was demonstrated in at least a dozen commonly used typefaces.
But you get what you ask for, I suppose...
James
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 09:02:09 -0500 From: James Grieshaber Subject: Re: Euro symbolPatrick McPhee wrote:
... the symbol has to be written by hand. If it's difficult to do so, the symbol might not be used by many people. It will be interesting to see common practice makes of the situation.
| | ---------- # | | \ # | | . #-+-+-| # | | ' # | | ----------/ | |
I Think: Most currency symbols are common letters with a bar through them, pound, dollar (and the antiquated cent), yen (...well two bars).
My vote: the minuscule "e" with a vertical bar struck through. Simple and can be written by hand with two strokes.
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James Grieshaber
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 10:05:37 PST Reply-To: Don Hosek From: Don Hosek Subject: Re: Euro symbolIt seems to me that the best response is an organized rebellion against the symbol. My suggestion would be to pick some relatively useless character that's already in the character set (currency or florin comes to mind) and use that as the Euro symbol. If type designers focus on the selected character & typographers generically use it, then the whole existing character thing will just go away.
-- Don Hosek
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 20:12:27 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!Erik:
I sincerely hope the typedesigners of the world will get their own and better versions out there. This won't be much of a challenge, because this one sucks. It's even worse than the 'e' symbol the EU created for the packaging industry, which resembles a lowercase bodoni e drawn by a demented math teacher. Type design (and currency design), and (to hell with it) ANY design should be left to individuals rather than committees.There's still a chance of doing this -- although much depends on the approach taken by the large type vendors. (Big people, are you listenting?)
We (Europeans) have as much ownership of any new symbol as any EU committee (at least, assuming our respective nations sign up for the single currency, which here at least is not a given). It would be really nice to see to see a robust and creative response from the type community -- not a meek kow-towing to a hopelessly flaccid and uninspiring graphic. It's not often we get a chance to tackle a genuinely new glyph -- and one that may be around for several hundred years.
If type designers establish the look (or range of 'looks' -- let's be postmodern about this) of the new currency, the EU committees will have to give way. But it doesn't work the other way around -- they won't be able to enforce it (except by asserting that fonts that don't use it, like crooked cucumbers, will not meet EU directives -- and this would be ludicrous!).
Perhaps we should start a campaign -- inviting type designers to come up with their own interpretations? There can't be many type designers that can't be reached via two 'degrees of separation' from members of this list. Wouldn't that be an achievement for the Millenium -- to stick two fingers up to Brussels and create our own future for once?
James
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 17:13:00 -0500 From: Neil Kandalgaonkar Subject: Re: Euro symbolJames Souttar wrote:
the brief should have been to develop a glyph that could be added to any type design (as well as handwritten), including their thoughts about where it was going to fit with existing character sets and keyboard layouts. And I'd have expected to see proposals (if I were the client) where the new glyph was demonstrated in at least a dozen commonly used typefaces.Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.odyssee.net/~njk/cv/type/euro/
This isn't really my clarion call for revolt, just the record of one evening's entertainment, trying out the Euro symbol and an alternative in various typefaces.
-- Neil Kandalgaonkar
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 08:47:49 -0800 From: following message is brought to you by Subject: Re: Euro symbolI've always thought the abolition of the name 'ecu' as a big mistake. there's a historical connection to Charles I and the first European empire and Aachen, it sounds decent in most languages and does not mean anything rude, nor sound like another environmentally friendly soap from Procter & Gamble the way EURO does. You can't even pronounce Euro decently in any language except possibly French and Catalan.
POLITBUREAU
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 02:06:21 +0100 From: Ivar Järnefors Subject: Re: Euro symbol
I've always thought the abolition of the name 'ecu' as a big mistake. there's a historical connection to Charles I and the first European empire and Aachen, it sounds decent in most languages and does not mean anything rude, nor sound like another environmentally friendly soap from Procter & Gamble the way EURO does. You can't even pronounce Euro decently in any language except possibly French and Catalan.I agree totally! As I've understand it, all the members of the union actually rather liked ecu. Everyone that is, except the Germans. (bless'em) Apparently ecu sounded too feminine in German, and we wouldn't like a feminine currency now would we... It would not surprise me if this wish for "strength" in the new currency also played a role in the design of it's symbol. It does look like the logo of a great and powerful, perhaps even German, company. The European Commission want a symbol (or perhaps rather a logotype) for the EMU more than a useful currency symbol, hence the problem. And the Germans would probably not like the epsilon version (as proposed to us by Neil Kandalgaonkar) either. Considering it's delightful feminine curves. And, oh yes, I do hope no one of German nationality took any offence by all this.
Ivar Järnefors
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 11:16:19 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro Symbol (ugh!)Don:
My suggestion would be to pick some relatively useless character that's already in the character set (currency or florin comes to mind) and use that as the Euro symbol.I believe that 'Florin' was considered as the official designation of the new currency. I'm not sure why it was rejected -- perhaps it was too good an idea for a committee ever to agree upon.
Since many European currencies have been based at some point on the florin (the 'forint' is the Hungarian currency, the Dutch Guilder still uses the 'florin' sign -- and up until 1970, it was the name for a two shilling piece in the UK) there is some resonance there. Also celebrating Florence as the origin of modern Europe (in the mercantile, cultural and political sense) would be a very nice idea [and a sop to the Italians, who haven't used Florins for a long time].
I take some consolation that the history of currencies shows that the people have generally managed to subvert 'official' names and designations. Maybe in a couple of hundred years people will wonder why the European currency has an obscure kind of 'e' symbol -- nobody remebering that it was intended to be called the 'euro'. [Well, one can hope -- can't one <g>].
James
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 10:35:24 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!Neil:
Confusion... in my paper this morning (Montreal Gazette), it was printed like this:Yes! they screwed up all right! Clearly they felt that nobody could seriously be proposing a C with an = through it. And they were right!/ |l \ \_||_/ l|Did they screw this up? is it supposed to look more like C with an = sign through it?
[The idea is that the C shape makes a kind of lowercase e with the crossbar. Yes, I know -- so low has the design business fallen]
James
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 10:07:21 -0200 From: Rodolfo Capeto Subject: Re: Euro symbol
I've always thought the abolition of the name 'ecu' as a big mistake. there's a historical connection to Charles I and the first European empire and Aachen, it sounds decent in most languages and does not mean anything rude, nor sound like another [..]I must tell you that it sounds bad enough in Portuguese. 'Decent' wouldn't exactly be an appropriate adjective..
Rodolfo
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 09:55:34 -0200 From: John Langdon Subject: Re: Euro Glyph Gif
There's a picture of the new euro symbol for all those who care. Not a very good quality image however.At long last! Thanks, Delve. Well, it's clearly not designed as a logo that can't be changed. Like the $, ¥, etc. it can easily be adapted to any typeface.
I do find its asymmetry kind of bothersome. The $ and ¥ (and even the Pound symbol to an, admittedly smaller degree) seem oriented toward the reader (like AHMOTUVWXY, 8 and 0), graphically aloof vis-a-vis the ensuing numerals. This C seems poised to greedily gobble up whatever numbers follow. A picky point perhaps.....................
John Langdon
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 09:02:33 +0100 From: Jacques Andre Subject: Euro symbol: pre/post fixedI see in http://www.odyssee.net/~njk/cv/type/euro/ some examples of use of the new eurosymbol. All of them are prefixed, I mean in the form (Let E be this symbol):
E 1234.56
In France (and in other European countries as well), we always put the symbol in a postfixed form: 1234F (and even we write 123$ or 234£).
Is it any rule about the place of this monetary symbol? The metric system uses the postfixed notation (and the ... coma for decimal point): 123,45m
Jacques Andre
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 11:08:26 GMT From: James Souttar Subject: Re: Euro symbol: pre/post fixedJacques:
Is it any rule about the place of this monetary symbol? The metric system uses the postfixed notation (and the ... coma for decimal point): 123,45mYes -- the manual is being written even as I write. In the meantime, there are interim guidelines which specify exactly how the new symbol may be used. I quote:
"The Euro Symbol(TM) has been specially drawn to represent the aspirations of the European Union. It must not be redrawn, scaled, distorted or altered in any way. It must only be reproduced from a master original."
No chance of handwriting, you see...
"The Euro Symbol(TM) may only be used in sizes of 5mm increments, measured across measure bar A. For sizes smaller than 40mm, the small use version must be used. It may not be used at any size smaller than 7.5mm."
Scuppers anything smaller than 32pt (ooops, I mean 8mm CH!)
"The Euro Symbol(TM) must precede all figures used to indicate prices. Other arrangements will not be acceptable".
Sorry, Frenchies -- but this is being done by an thoughtless American consultancy!
"The Euro Symbol(TM) can only be reproduced in European Union Blue (PANTONE 281) or Black. It must never be reversed, or appear in any other colour combinations".
Watch out, or the corporate identity manager from Hell (correction: Brussels) will reposess your home...
<v.vbg>
James
(who has written too many identity manuals!)
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 08:42:54 -0500 From: Michael Brady Subject: Re: Euro symbol: pre/post fixedOn Fri, 20 Dec 1996, James Souttar wrote:
"The Euro Symbol(TM) has been specially drawn to represent the aspirations of the European Union. It must not be redrawn, scaled, distorted or altered in any way. It must only be reproduced from a master original."Uh, like, just exactly how does a currency symbol "represent the aspirations" of anything? How does the British pound symbol do that? The american dollar mark? The Japanese yen (although, here is a felicitous pun on a word the means "aspiration"). I suspect that the aspirations are signified by the prestige of the underlying currency. People prefer to denominate their trading in American dollars, or pounds sterling, or Deutschmarks, or francs, or yen. Until the Eurocurrency establishes its reliability, convertibility, its symbol may just as well stand for Monopoly money!
"The Euro Symbol(TM) may only be used in sizes of 5mm increments, measured across measure bar A. For sizes smaller than 40mm, the small use version must be used. It may not be used at any size smaller than 7.5mm."This is amazing. Does the European Union plan to put Euro-Symbol-Police (ESP, wouldn't you know it!) in every newspaper to monitor how the grocery ads look? And it will pretty well put the kibosh on the "fine print" in contracts, at least for clauses which contain monetary expressions.
"The Euro Symbol(TM) must precede all figures used to indicate prices. Other arrangements will not be acceptable"."Not acceptable." That'll put the fear of God into all them currency rogues!
I must say, I am used to American usage, where the symbol precedes the numbers, but I am also used to seeing -- and comprehending! -- other styles, such as putting then symbol after the numbers. Like, what else is being signified? Duh.
"The Euro Symbol(TM) can only be reproduced in European Union Blue (PANTONE 281) or Black. It must never be reversed, or appear in any other colour combinations".See comment above about ESP squads. There is some kind of serious stupidity involved here.
Yours
Michael Brady
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 00:40:32 -0500 From: Patrick TJ McPhee Subject: Re: Euro symbol: pre/post fixed
On Fri, 20 Dec 1996, James Souttar wrote:"The Euro Symbol(TM) has been specially drawn to represent the aspirations of the European Union. It must not be redrawn, scaled, distorted or altered in any way. It must only be reproduced from a master original."Uh, like, just exactly how does a currency symbol "represent the aspirations" of anything? How does the British pound symbol do that?
You don't understand. The British pound symbol doesn't represent the aspirations of anything. That's why it has to be replaced with something that does. I don't know whether Mr Souttar is making that stuff up (in which case, he's doing it very well), but this is exactly the kind of zany, goofy, off-the-wall eurocratic regulation that's made the EU so much fun for all of us for quite some time now. Nice to see they haven't lost their edge. (and carrots are fruit)
Patrick TJ McPhee
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 1996 04:00:09 -0500 From: Neil Kandalgaonkar Subject: Re: Euro symbol <- Yuck!James Souttar wrote:
Perhaps we should start a campaign -- inviting type designers to come up with their own interpretations?On the same note, I'm getting a lot of mail since my Euro page's URL was posted in comp.fonts. Strangely, nobody seems to want to defend the EC's position. I've updated the page a bit, trying to summarize some of the main issues.
http://www.odyssee.net/~njk/cv/type/euro/
BTW, I was wondering, did the classical Romans or Greeks have special symbols or abbreviations for currency? That might be an interesting starting point, rather than the letter E.
Happy holidays. I'm going out right now to get a life.
-- Neil Kandalgaonkar
End of discussion thread, 1996-12-23.
Back to the Euro index.