Zapf Dingbats

In the list of available fonts on my previous Apple computer, the last one was Zapf Dingbats.  They were weird symbols and might be considered precursors of emojis.  What I didn’t realize until I read his obituary was that a man named Zapf invented those.  

The Dingbats were not his only font that lives on.  He also invented the Optima font, which was used at the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C., to list the names of the dead.  This sentence is written in Optima.  It is an elegant font, and suitable for memorials, which is why it was also used for the September 11 memorial in New York.  

Mr. Zapf spoke at Harvard when computers were coming into vogue.  He said, “Does the new technology mean the serious lettering artist will be dispensable?”  He answered, “No.  The alphabet remains.”