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Please no more Gotham

The above image was taken from The Outbreak, a choose-your-own-adventure online game about zombies. But this post is not about Flash or gaming or how I selected nearly every wrong choice before finishing the game. Instead, let me tell you about the moment I realized I had seen enough of Gotham.

In case you were asleep in 2008, Gotham is one of the latest fonts by Hoefler and Frere-Jones. It gained tremendous popularity being the font-of-choice of the Obama campaign. Like Obama, the nation (or the nation of designers at least) has been captivated with Gotham. I’ve seen it on trains and buses, in books and magazines, in commercials and informational diagrams. I’ve seen it everywhere. And I’m tired of it.

Of course, I am excited that we graphic designers have a new sans-serif that can be added to the super-exclusive club of Great Typefaces That Will Always Work — squeezing right in between Futura and Helvetica. But that doesn’t mean I should be used in every situation imaginable. For example, in a survival-horror game.

Oh, is that Gotham? Hey, 2008 called and it wants its font back.

Maybe that 2008 is coming to a close, Gotham’s use will reach saturation-point. But for the time being, can we all agree to hold off on employing H&J’s #1 font, at least for 2009?