Papyrus Is a Plant, Not a Font

via Tapir Girl

There's a salon on Lawrence - not far from the Dank Haus - that we pass each time we're headed out to the 'burbs for an estate sale or some other event that would require otherwise sane people to dredge through weekend traffic in Albany Park. It's not the most charming neighborhood, but we sort of look forward to/cringe each time we pass Janecy, or Janacey, or Some-Such-Madness Salon. You see, they've committed the biggest sin known in all sole proprietorship-dom: Creating a sign with Papyrus font.

Granted it's a small salon run by, we're sure, perfectly lovely people, but no rest for the weary my friends! Papyrus is a blight (second only to Comic Sans) that needs eradicating. Maybe we've got bigger fish to fry like, uh, James Cameron who so expertly chose Papyrus for the subtitles of Avatar - but in the interest of supporting local businesses and facilitating behavior change through positive example, here's a look at how the Viennese do things:

via phospho


via phospho


via phospho


via phospho


via phospho


via phospho


via phospho

We stumbled upon these beauties while searching for Papyrus aversion therapy vintage signs on flickr. They belong to a fantastic collection of Viennese storefront photos from phospho. Some are painted, some are manufactured, but all have a clean linear script that's early mid-century in feel that we could easily see these being incorporated into a contemporary storefront design. And though script can easily go the way of Miss Havisham, or Googie - these signs get the balance right.

So for anyone who's created a memo/sign/brochure/whathaveyou using Papyrus, let this serve as a lesson. What did they used to say at the end of "very special episodes" - if you or someone you know has an addiction to Papyrus, there is help:

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