Ransom note effect

2025-07-29T21:25:27Z

2600:1702:4BB0:1A80:F0FC:6BE1:22E8:B166:

{{short description|Term in typography}}
[[File:Alphabet ransom note style.jpg|thumb|Letters cut randomly from a magazine create the ransom note effect.]]
[[Image:San_Francisco.png|thumb|right|The typeface [[San Francisco (decorative typeface)|San Francisco]] replicates the ransom note effect.]]
In [[typography]], the '''ransom note effect''' is the result of using an excessive number of juxtaposed [[typeface]]s. It takes its name from the appearance of a stereotypical [[ransom]] note or [[poison pen letter]], with the message formed from words or letters cut randomly from a [[magazine]] or a [[newspaper]] in order to avoid using recognizable [[handwriting]].

The term is also used in a pejorative manner to describe poor typesetting or layout created by an untrained Web developer or [[desktop publishing]] user.<ref name="Angell_Page_411">{{cite book |last1=Angell |first1=David |last2=Kent |first2=Peter |title=Word 2003 Bible |date=2003 |publisher=Wiley Publishing |location=Indianapolis |isbn=9780764555732 |page=411 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LNkrzGkKuYkC&pg=PA411 |access-date=23 March 2024}}</ref> The software industry discovered that the drawback to placing "professional publishing tools" in the hands of "people with no graphic design" training or education was that "all too often users mixed all sorts of things together, just because they could".<ref name="Angell_Page_411" /> However, the problem has long been recognized in classical typography and examples of such layouts can be found in handbills from the 18th and 19th centuries.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Early versions of [[Classic Mac OS|Macintosh system software]], up through [[System 7]], included a [[bitmapped]] font called [[San Francisco (1984 typeface)|San Francisco]] that replicated the ransom note effect. The font was not carried over into later versions of Mac OS. [[Microsoft]] similarly had a Ransom typeface commissioned in 1992.<ref>{{Cite web |last=alib-ms |date=2022-03-30 |title=Ransom font family - Typography |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/ransom |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

The ransom note effect may also occur when a [[web browser]] uses different fonts to display parts of a [[web page]] in different [[language]]s or [[Character encoding|encoding]]s (or if a language uses glyphs from different code blocks, as is the case with [[Ancient Greek]]). To avoid this, web browsers try to use the same font for as much of the page as possible.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-utf8/2003-12/msg00108.html |title=Re: Unicode fonts on Debian |publisher=Mail.nl.linux.org |date= |accessdate=2009-11-23}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Typography]]
[[Category:Ransom]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Ransom note effect