What's in a Font?

What's in a Font?

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 672 , Segment 5

Episode: David Axelrod, Humans on Mars, Economics of the Corn Maze

  • Oct 31, 2017 11:00 pm
  • 13:45 mins

Guest: Douglas Thomas, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Brigham Young University, Author of “Never Use Futura” What do IKEA, Vogue, and Louis Vuitton all have in common? Not fashion or style, but font.  That modernist, blocky but super-clean typeface that all these brands use is called "Futura," and BYU graphic design professor Douglas Thomas argues that when brands use Futura, they're drawing on political history to sell you a democratic ideal.

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SpaceX's Obstacles in the Pursuit of Life on Mars

18 MINS

Guest: Andrew Maynard, PhD, Professor of Future of Innovation in Society, Director of the Risk Innovation Lab, Arizona State University NASA aims to send humans to Mars in about 15 years. Elon Musk – of Tesla Motors and SpaceX – plans to do it in seven years. And not just for a visit. His vision is a self-sustaining city on Mars where people can live, work and visit. The technical and financial challenges are immense, but Musk has already done a lot in space travel that NASA hasn’t been able to do. For example, SpaceX can launch a rocket into orbit, then bring it down to earth, land it upright and use it again. If anyone can built a city on Mars, I think it’ll be Elon Musk. But it won’t be without challenges.

Guest: Andrew Maynard, PhD, Professor of Future of Innovation in Society, Director of the Risk Innovation Lab, Arizona State University NASA aims to send humans to Mars in about 15 years. Elon Musk – of Tesla Motors and SpaceX – plans to do it in seven years. And not just for a visit. His vision is a self-sustaining city on Mars where people can live, work and visit. The technical and financial challenges are immense, but Musk has already done a lot in space travel that NASA hasn’t been able to do. For example, SpaceX can launch a rocket into orbit, then bring it down to earth, land it upright and use it again. If anyone can built a city on Mars, I think it’ll be Elon Musk. But it won’t be without challenges.