The saga continues! In my quest for perfection, I’ve discovered a new aisle of study. I’ve started preparing the various graphics for bulkheads, doors, and control panels. No doubt, a project in itself. In the findings of several other talented artists on the internet that have covered this subject extensively, there are but two font faces to be used on Star Trek materials. Helvetica, and Swiss911. If you take a spin over to Michael Okuda’s site, you can see his examples of the various signage is indeed Helvetica! Open and shut case, correct? Not so fast there, wordsmith. Being the meticulous man I am, I’ve poked some serious holes in that artwork, at least for The Next Generation series.

Allow me to present my evidence. Below is a second season screen shot of a door sign. While I agree, the weight is a tad thin, Compacta Light matches the best of the three here.

Up close, Helvetica and Swiss911 do not match at all. But they are similar. I’m sure from far away (even in 3d) you’d easily mistake them for the same face. Consider this next shot from Season 3, Wesley’s terminal in the lab. Again, the font seems a tad thin, but the shape of the face fits perfectly.

Lastly a printed sticker for a bulkhead, I can’t tell you where it originated, sadly. But it does appear to be authentic. Again, Compacta matching perfectly with almost no kerning at all.

I don’t presume to know why a switch was made, or when. Just to be sure the switch was not made to Helvetica sometime within the later years of the show, I tested screen shots in season 7. In the episode “Genesis,” there are several opportunities to see signage that shows the same font face. While it is not perfect in weight all the time, adding a 1% stroke, or faux bold makes up the difference in some cases. I think the television resolution for NTSC could easily be blamed for some of that. (Hence the many LCARS jokes that would never been readable on a standard television.) Take this as a grain of salt, I am nearly adding my opinion into the community. But my project will be using Compacta! It’s not terribly expensive, and you can pick up a copy here. I welcome it to my library.

I’ve fallen off the boat of keeping my blog cutting-edge and up to date. As an act of contrition, I’ve prepared a detailed entry in an attempt to make up for the long hiatus.

I’ve recently completed the build of my new computer “Athena.” After doing the meticulous research I generally do before building a new machine, I was stunned at the progress in technology since my last build in 2003. Initially, I was so shocked that I decided to look back at all the computers I’ve ever had. After a few weeks of looking through old boxes, reading receipts, and scouring the net I’ve completed a specification chart spanning back to my first deskop!

I still have very fond memories of my parents taking me to Best Buy to purchase my first computer. Knowing nothing, the sales person persuaded us into a Packard Hell Bell Desktop. Naturally, I talked them into a couple of games as well. The most notable being The 7th Guest. Days later I was introduced to the shareware version of DOOM from a friend. It was all downhill from there!