I was looking through a listing recently of picture fonts on MyFonts, and realized that there are some pretty weird ones there. Being a lover of all things weird (you should see my Netflix queue), I couldn’t help but share my findings with you all. So, without further ado, I present to you the top 5 weirdest dingbat fonts on MyFonts (drumroll please)…
#5: LTC Creepy Ornaments
This collection of weird images was uncovered by Lanston in their research of historic decorative material. I’ve seen a lot of these kinds of odd-ball Victorian printers’ ornaments stashed away in random corners of various letterpress shops. Every time I see a new one I imagine a bustling print shop, circa 1895, being run by men with big mustaches… all of them completely high on absinthe, brainstorming ideas for new disturbing ornaments.
#4: Dingfatz
What can I really say about this one? Big is beautiful.
#3: Peepod
The first time seeing these curious shapes, it took me a minute to realize that the reason they were so familiar was that I had spent some very personal time with them. These are all silhouettes of the plastic drain-type thingies that are almost always at the bottom of public urinals.
I’m so curious to know how the guys at T-26 went about collecting these shapes… I have no idea what I would think if I walked in to a public restroom to find some dude taking a close-up photograph of the urinal.
#2: CA Subbacultcha
I guess in some ways the weirdo images in this font might be considered our generation’s equivalent of the Victorian stuff in the LTC stuff above (#5). They remind me of the retro-appropriation and collaging / juxtaposition that is used so much by the ever-weird Church Of The Sub-Genius. We are now approaching total obscurity. (sidenote: This font is named after a Pixies song!)
#1: Stalker
At present, it’s pretty hard to make anything of the default sample images of this font on MyFonts, but I’m not so sure that’s really even a bad thing for our average visitors… all I can really say about this font is “disturbingly weird”. I love it.
Special Mentions
Some acknowledgement is due to the following dingbat fonts for being unique and/or interesting, without necessarily tipping the weirdness scales:
Rorschach – psychologists’ ink blots
Olympukes – free icon font depicting the “true spirit” of the Olympic games
Patriot Kit – different camouflage patterns from different countries
Mr J Smith – mix and match facial features to recreate a person’s face
Dos De Tres – Mexican luchador wrestler masks
Soupirs – While the actual shapes of these dingbats aren’t too dissimilar to traditional typographic ornaments, the source material is pretty unique.
