Screenshot of six randomly-selected Display Sans Serif fonts in FontShop’s new FontShuffle iPhone/iPod Touch App.
I started writing this little post on Monday, in a bit of feeverish anticipation of FontShuffle’s release (pre-announced over the weekend). What is FontShuffle, you ask? FontShop’s Jürgen Siebert writes (in German…), “wouldn’t it be nice to have a type specimen catalog that would fit in your shirt pocket?”
Now FontShuffle is out, and you should go download it. As long as you have an iPhone, of course. If you don’t have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, well, I am very sorry. A few days ago, I thought that I was going to go all in-depth into FontShuffle’s features, but at the moment, I don’t really feel like it. Yes, I could still break the news to the English-speaking world, since it is only about 5:30am on the American East Coast. But what is the point? There is just no way to out-blog the FontBlog. Even if you don’t read German, just ogle at the pictures!
I made a few screenshots of FontShuffle in-use on my iPhone, but I got a little disappointed because Bank Gothic kept coming up, but I don’t think they even included Morris Sans in their FontShuffle database. Despite this tragic oversight, I am still in geek heaven when I think about the product. Why not? I mean, I love fonts, and I love Apple. I dream about serifs and FontLab and MacBook Pros. I’ve been a happier person since I got an iPhone a few weeks ago. Now I have one more toy on it.
I’m pleased to see that FontShuffle was developed for FontShop by Metaquark, the young Berlin student responsible for the excellent FahrInfo Berlin iPhone App. At the moment, FontShuffle does seem a bit 1.0. Why do I say that? Well, I wish I could search for fonts alphabetically! In my type nerd-ness, this is how I always look for fonts. But I trust that the product will be updated and improved in the future. Respect.
Dwiggins’s type looks so fly on the iPhone, doesn’t it?