It seems that every where I look I’m seeing rosewood; not of the arboreal variety, but the typographic one. From US Cellular’s newest ad campaign to titles and bylines in Country Living magazine, even Apple uses it in their iTunes store for the Single of the Week, Rosewood (and other slab serifs with vintage appeal) are going mainstream. After seeing this font in many unlikely places, I got to thinking, what was this font originally created for? Does this have any connection to the way it’s being used today? So I did some research. What follows is a brief history of Rosewood…
Rosewood the font as we know it today was designed by Kim Buker Chansler, Carl Crossgrove and Carol Twombly for Adobe Systems in 1994. It’s roots are in slab serif styles popular at the end of the of 18th century. Another slab serif, Clarendon, created by Hermann Eldenbenz in 1953, also draws its style from the fonts of the beginning of industrialization. (I wonder if Rosewood drew inspiration from Clarendon??)
For a little background, when the Industrial Revolution began, the capitalist replaced the land owner as the powerful force in the West. This shift brought about new machines that made mass production possible for printers, which allowed consistently new products to sell to consumers. More abundant merchandise stimulated greater demand for products and a market for advertising. Thus, the birth of slab serif fonts, type faces with a sole purpose to catch consumers attention. (Wood type posters are a great example of this.)
So, to draw a conclusion, Rosewood as it’s being used today seems to be serving a very similar purpose as the slab serifs of the late 1800’s, catch the attention of the consumer and sell products. Helvetica, I’m sorry but your lucid efficiancy and anonymity are no match for Rosewood’s character and boldness. Although I doubt Rosewood will ever beat Helvetica in popularity, cheers to more fonts with personality.
Posted by hbowman98 
