0:00:00.833,0:00:03.351
In 1969 in July,

0:00:03.375,0:00:06.309
three Americans launched into space.

0:00:06.333,0:00:08.726
Now, they went to the surface of the moon,

0:00:08.750,0:00:12.226
they famously made[br]the great leap for mankind.

0:00:12.250,0:00:15.351
Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong,[br]they walked on the surface,

0:00:15.375,0:00:16.643
they planted this flag.

0:00:16.667,0:00:22.101
It's rightly celebrated as a moment[br]that in America we say is a triumph.

0:00:22.125,0:00:25.101
We think it was this[br]amazing accomplishment.

0:00:25.125,0:00:27.393
They didn't just leave behind[br]this flag, though.

0:00:27.417,0:00:28.894
They also left behind a plaque.

0:00:28.918,0:00:30.559
This plaque is a beautiful object,

0:00:30.583,0:00:33.143
and one that I want to talk to you[br]a little bit about.

0:00:33.167,0:00:35.406
First, you might notice[br]that there's two globes,

0:00:35.430,0:00:36.684
representing all of earth.

0:00:36.708,0:00:38.726
And then there's this beautiful statement:

0:00:38.750,0:00:40.434
"We came in peace for all mankind."

0:00:40.458,0:00:43.559
Now, at first, this is just[br]nice poetic language,

0:00:43.583,0:00:47.434
but it's also set in a typeface[br]that's perfect for this moment.

0:00:47.458,0:00:50.643
It seems industrial, it seems engineered.

0:00:50.667,0:00:52.239
It also is the best possible name

0:00:52.263,0:00:56.059
you could come up with[br]for something on the moon: Futura.

0:00:56.083,0:00:57.941
Now, I want to talk to you about fonts,

0:00:57.965,0:01:00.309
and why this typeface is perfect[br]for this moment.

0:01:00.333,0:01:02.417
But it's actually more[br]than just ceremonial.

0:01:03.250,0:01:06.018
Now, when all of you arrived here today,

0:01:06.042,0:01:08.643
you actually had to think about fonts.

0:01:08.667,0:01:09.934
You might not realize it,

0:01:09.958,0:01:12.934
but you're all unconscious[br]experts on typography.

0:01:12.958,0:01:17.309
Typography is the study[br]of how fonts inhabit our world,

0:01:17.333,0:01:21.250
they're the visual language[br]of the words we use.

0:01:22.000,0:01:24.309
Here's the thing[br]that's funny about this, though.

0:01:24.333,0:01:27.101
I know you're probably not like me,[br]you're not a font nerd,

0:01:27.125,0:01:29.851
maybe some of you are,[br]but if you're not, that's alright,

0:01:29.875,0:01:31.851
because I might spend hours every day

0:01:31.875,0:01:34.685
trying to pick the perfect typeface[br]for the perfect project,

0:01:34.709,0:01:37.018
or I might spend thousands[br]of dollars every year,

0:01:37.042,0:01:39.101
trying to get ones[br]with the right features.

0:01:39.125,0:01:42.268
But all of you actually spend hours[br]every day, evaluating fonts.

0:01:42.292,0:01:44.851
If you don't believe me,[br]think about how you got here.

0:01:44.875,0:01:46.643
Each of you had to judge by the signs

0:01:46.667,0:01:48.101
and maybe even on your phone,

0:01:48.125,0:01:51.601
which signals to trust[br]and which to ignore.

0:01:51.625,0:01:52.893
You were evaluating fonts.

0:01:52.917,0:01:55.143
Or maybe when you're just[br]buying a new product,

0:01:55.167,0:01:57.691
you have to think about[br]whether something is expensive

0:01:57.715,0:02:01.434
or cheap or hard to get or easy to find.

0:02:01.458,0:02:03.059
And the funny thing about it is,

0:02:03.083,0:02:04.941
this may not seem extraordinary to you,

0:02:04.965,0:02:07.268
but the moment you see[br]something out of place,

0:02:07.292,0:02:08.643
you recognize it right away.

0:02:08.667,0:02:11.059
(Laughter)

0:02:11.083,0:02:12.768
The thing I love about typography,

0:02:12.792,0:02:15.059
and why I love fonts[br]and why I love Futura,

0:02:15.083,0:02:18.934
is that, for me,[br]what I study is everywhere.

0:02:18.958,0:02:21.643
Every street that I walk down,[br]every book that I pick up,

0:02:21.667,0:02:26.809
every thing that I read[br]is filled with the thing I love.

0:02:26.833,0:02:31.143
Now, once you understand the history[br]and what happens with typography,

0:02:31.167,0:02:34.559
you actually have a history[br]of everything before you.

0:02:34.583,0:02:36.809
And this is the typeface Futura.

0:02:36.833,0:02:40.226
As previously we've discussed,[br]this is modernism in miniature.

0:02:40.250,0:02:43.018
This is a way in which modernism[br]infiltrated this country

0:02:43.042,0:02:46.268
and became perhaps the most popular,[br]or promiscuous typeface,

0:02:46.292,0:02:48.268
of the twentieth century.

0:02:48.292,0:02:51.601
"Less is more," right, these are[br]the aphorisms of modernism.

0:02:51.625,0:02:53.893
And in the visual arts,[br]the same thing happened.

0:02:53.917,0:02:56.601
Let's focus on the essentials,[br]focus on the basic shapes,

0:02:56.625,0:02:57.893
focus on geometry.

0:02:57.917,0:03:00.643
So Futura actually holds this to its core.

0:03:00.667,0:03:03.101
You might notice that the shapes[br]inherent in Futura

0:03:03.125,0:03:04.851
have circles, squares, triangles.

0:03:04.875,0:03:06.976
Some of the shapes[br]are all based on circles,

0:03:07.000,0:03:08.268
like the O, D and C,

0:03:08.292,0:03:11.768
or others have this pointed[br]apex of the triangle.

0:03:11.792,0:03:14.018
Others just look like[br]they might have been made

0:03:14.042,0:03:15.351
with a ruler or a compass.

0:03:15.375,0:03:18.059
They feel geometric,[br]they feel mathematic, precise.

0:03:18.083,0:03:20.684
In fact, this whole system[br]carries through with the way

0:03:20.708,0:03:22.226
that the typeface was designed.

0:03:22.250,0:03:25.601
To not look like it was made[br]like other typefaces, to be something new.

0:03:25.625,0:03:29.851
Here it is in the lightweight,[br]the medium weight and the bold weight.

0:03:29.875,0:03:32.851
The whole family has[br]different things to commend to it.

0:03:32.875,0:03:34.851
This was a conscious break from the past,

0:03:34.875,0:03:38.143
something that looked like it was made[br]by a machine, and not by hand.

0:03:38.167,0:03:40.476
When I say not made by hand,[br]this is what I mean.

0:03:40.500,0:03:42.143
This is what we think about maybe,

0:03:42.167,0:03:45.768
when you might create something[br]with a calligraphic brush or a pen.

0:03:45.792,0:03:47.226
That there's thicks and thins.

0:03:47.250,0:03:50.643
And even more traditional typefaces,[br]say like a Garamond,

0:03:50.667,0:03:52.434
holds vestiges of this old system

0:03:52.458,0:03:55.726
in which you can see the A[br]where it get little bit thinner at the top

0:03:55.750,0:03:57.018
and thicker down below,

0:03:57.042,0:03:59.934
because it's trying to look like[br]someone had made it by hand.

0:03:59.958,0:04:01.268
But Futura, in contrast,

0:04:01.292,0:04:03.851
is designed to look like[br]no one had touched it at all,

0:04:03.875,0:04:05.434
that this was made by a machine,

0:04:05.458,0:04:07.434
for a machine age, for an industrial age.

0:04:07.458,0:04:09.518
There's actually a sleight of hand here

0:04:09.542,0:04:13.268
that Paul Renner, the designer[br]who made this in 1927, employed.

0:04:13.292,0:04:14.809
If you look at the way in which

0:04:14.833,0:04:17.767
the circular shape[br]joins with the vertical shaft,

0:04:17.791,0:04:21.017
you'll notice that it tapers[br]just every so slightly.

0:04:21.041,0:04:22.768
And this is one of hundreds of ways

0:04:22.792,0:04:25.934
in which this typeface was designed[br]to look geometrically perfect,

0:04:25.958,0:04:27.726
even though it's mathematically not.

0:04:27.750,0:04:30.143
And this is what typeface[br]designers do all the time

0:04:30.167,0:04:32.809
to make typefaces work, every day.

0:04:32.833,0:04:36.726
Now, there were other designers doing this[br]at the same time in Europe and America.

0:04:36.750,0:04:39.268
These are a few other[br]excellent examples from Europe,

0:04:39.292,0:04:42.559
trying to create something new[br]for the new age, a new moment in time.

0:04:42.583,0:04:44.351
These are some other ones in Germany

0:04:44.375,0:04:46.559
that in some ways[br]look very similar to Futura,

0:04:46.583,0:04:49.643
maybe with higher waist or lower waist[br]or different proportions.

0:04:49.667,0:04:51.601
Then why did Futura take over the world?

0:04:51.625,0:04:54.143
In this case, if you can read[br]the titles there,

0:04:54.167,0:04:56.934
some of these names[br]don't quite roll off the tongue:

0:04:56.958,0:05:02.309
Erbar, Kabel Light,[br]Berthold-Grotesk, Elegant-Grotesk.

0:05:02.333,0:05:04.559
These aren't exactly[br]household names, are they?

0:05:04.583,0:05:07.268
And so when you compare that to Futura,

0:05:07.292,0:05:10.559
you realize that this was a really[br]good choice by the marketing team.

0:05:10.583,0:05:12.309
What's amazing about this name --

0:05:12.333,0:05:14.976
you know, what's in this name[br]is that this is a name

0:05:15.000,0:05:18.684
that actually invokes hope[br]and an idea about the future.

0:05:18.708,0:05:21.232
And this isn't actually the word[br]for future in German,

0:05:21.256,0:05:22.518
it wasn't a German name,

0:05:22.542,0:05:24.018
they actually picked something

0:05:24.042,0:05:27.226
that would speak to a wider,[br]larger audience, a universal audience.

0:05:27.250,0:05:30.101
And when you compare it[br]to what was being done in America --

0:05:30.125,0:05:32.226
these are the typefaces[br]from the same period

0:05:32.250,0:05:33.893
in the United States in the 1920s,

0:05:33.917,0:05:35.226
bold, brash, braggadocios.

0:05:35.250,0:05:38.768
You almost think of this as exactly[br]like what the stock market looked like

0:05:38.792,0:05:40.851
when they were all[br]going nuts in the 1920s.

0:05:40.875,0:05:43.768
And you realize that Futura[br]is doing something revolutionary.

0:05:43.792,0:05:47.976
I want to step back and talk[br]about an example of the typeface in use.

0:05:48.000,0:05:51.268
So this is a magazine that we all[br]probably know today, "Vanity Fair."

0:05:51.292,0:05:54.643
This is what it looked like[br]in 1929, in the summer.

0:05:54.667,0:05:58.059
And in many ways, there's[br]nothing wrong with this design.

0:05:58.083,0:06:00.684
This is absolutely typical of the 1920s.

0:06:00.708,0:06:02.809
There's a photograph[br]of an important person,

0:06:02.833,0:06:05.643
in this case Franklin Roosevelt,[br]then-governor of New York.

0:06:05.667,0:06:08.309
Everything seems centered,[br]everything seems symmetrical.

0:06:08.333,0:06:10.434
There's still a little bit[br]of ornamentation,

0:06:10.458,0:06:13.434
so this is still maybe having[br]some vestiges of the painted lady

0:06:13.458,0:06:14.726
and not fully modernistic.

0:06:14.750,0:06:16.393
But everything seems kid of solid.

0:06:16.417,0:06:18.934
There's even drop caps[br]to help you get into the text.

0:06:18.958,0:06:21.684
But this all changed very quickly[br]and in October of 1929,

0:06:21.708,0:06:24.684
a Berlin-based designer came[br]and redesigned "Vanity Fair."

0:06:24.708,0:06:27.893
And this is what[br]it looks like with Futura.

0:06:27.917,0:06:29.768
Instead of the governor

0:06:29.792,0:06:32.684
now we have a photograph[br]of an abstract, beautiful setting,

0:06:32.708,0:06:34.226
in this case, the ocean.

0:06:34.250,0:06:36.476
Instead of drop caps,[br]there's nothing at all.

0:06:36.500,0:06:40.559
And replaced with a centered[br]layout is now asymmetry.

0:06:40.583,0:06:43.643
And it gets even more radical[br]the further you enter the magazine.

0:06:43.667,0:06:45.684
In this case,[br]even more dramatic asymmetry.

0:06:45.708,0:06:48.976
In this case, illustrations[br]by Pablo Picasso, moving across the page

0:06:49.000,0:06:52.893
and breaking the gutter of the two pages.

0:06:52.917,0:06:54.851
And there's something even more radical.

0:06:54.875,0:06:57.809
If you look closely at the Futura,[br]you might notice something.

0:06:57.833,0:06:59.476
You might not pick it up at first,

0:06:59.500,0:07:03.059
but there are no capital letters[br]in the title or the captions on this page.

0:07:03.083,0:07:05.018
You might not think that's very radical,

0:07:05.042,0:07:07.684
but pick up any magazine,[br]any book or go to any website,

0:07:07.708,0:07:10.476
and I guarantee, you are not[br]going to find it very easily.

0:07:10.500,0:07:12.893
This is still a radical idea.

0:07:12.917,0:07:14.184
And why is that radical?

0:07:14.208,0:07:17.184
When we think about[br]what capital letters denote,

0:07:17.208,0:07:19.018
they denote something important,

0:07:19.042,0:07:21.184
whether it's our names, or our titles.

0:07:21.208,0:07:24.143
Or maybe even just[br]the name of our corporations,

0:07:24.167,0:07:25.893
or maybe our trademarks.

0:07:25.917,0:07:29.351
Actually, in some ways,[br]America's the home of capitalization.

0:07:29.375,0:07:31.268
We love putting capitals in everything.

0:07:31.292,0:07:32.934
(Laughter)

0:07:32.958,0:07:34.934
But think about how radical this would be

0:07:34.958,0:07:39.268
to introduce a magazine where you're[br]taking away all the capital letters.

0:07:39.292,0:07:41.351
This has maybe had[br]the same political force

0:07:41.375,0:07:45.101
that we now argue over things[br]like pronouns in our society today.

0:07:45.125,0:07:46.684
In the 1920s,

0:07:46.708,0:07:51.333
this is just shortly after Soviet Russia[br]had a communist revolution.

0:07:52.250,0:07:56.893
And for them, this actually represented[br]a socialist infiltration into America.

0:07:56.917,0:08:00.768
All lowercase letters meant[br]that this was an egalitarian,

0:08:00.792,0:08:04.809
complete lowering of everything[br]into one equal playing field.

0:08:04.833,0:08:06.809
Now this is still kind of a radical idea.

0:08:06.833,0:08:09.119
Think about how often[br]you do capitalize something

0:08:09.143,0:08:10.934
to have more power or prestige to it.

0:08:10.958,0:08:15.143
So for them to do this was a way[br]in which Futura was using this idea.

0:08:15.167,0:08:18.351
Now, other designers[br]were doing other things with Futura.

0:08:18.375,0:08:20.643
Others brought other ideas[br]of modernism with it,

0:08:20.667,0:08:23.059
whether it was interesting[br]new illustration styles,

0:08:23.083,0:08:25.934
or interesting new collage[br]types of illustration.

0:08:25.958,0:08:28.018
Or even just new book covers,

0:08:28.042,0:08:30.143
whether they were from Europe.

0:08:30.167,0:08:32.018
But here's the funny thing.

0:08:32.042,0:08:34.393
In the 1920s, if you wanted[br]to use a new typeface,

0:08:34.417,0:08:36.851
you couldn't just go download it[br]onto your computer.

0:08:36.875,0:08:39.058
You actually had to have pieces of lead.

0:08:39.082,0:08:41.143
So for Americans who wanted to adopt this

0:08:41.167,0:08:43.183
and make it part of their own system,

0:08:43.207,0:08:46.059
something they could use[br]in everyday typography,

0:08:46.083,0:08:47.726
whether in ads or anything else,

0:08:47.750,0:08:49.934
they actually had to have metal type.

0:08:49.958,0:08:52.393
So being good American[br]capitalists, what did we do?

0:08:52.417,0:08:53.809
We made all sorts of copies.

0:08:53.833,0:08:56.143
Ones that had nothing to do[br]with the name Futura,

0:08:56.167,0:08:58.018
but looked identical to it,

0:08:58.042,0:08:59.601
whether it was Spartan or Tempo.

0:08:59.625,0:09:02.351
And in fact, by the time[br]that World War II started,

0:09:02.375,0:09:05.809
American corporations were actually trying[br]to boycott Nazi goods.

0:09:05.833,0:09:08.309
But they said,[br]"Go ahead and use our copies.

0:09:08.333,0:09:11.018
Use 20th Century, use Spartan,[br]use Vogue, use Tempo.

0:09:11.042,0:09:13.351
These are identical to Futura."

0:09:13.375,0:09:16.559
And in fact, for most people,[br]they didn't even learn the new names,

0:09:16.583,0:09:18.351
they just still called it all Futura.

0:09:18.375,0:09:20.934
So America took this typeface in,

0:09:20.958,0:09:22.934
conquered it and made it its own.

0:09:22.958,0:09:25.851
So by the time World War II finishes,

0:09:25.875,0:09:27.733
Americans are using this on everything,

0:09:27.757,0:09:29.976
whether it be catalogs, or atlases,

0:09:30.000,0:09:33.309
or encyclopedias or charts and graphs,

0:09:33.333,0:09:36.976
or calendars, or even political material.

0:09:37.000,0:09:40.083
And even the logo for a new[br]expansion football team.

0:09:41.042,0:09:44.434
And in fact, it was used even on some[br]of the most important advertising

0:09:44.458,0:09:45.768
of the 20th century.

0:09:45.792,0:09:47.101
So it's in this context

0:09:47.125,0:09:49.476
that when the US government[br]was picking a typeface

0:09:49.500,0:09:52.120
to use after World War II[br]for new maps and new projects,

0:09:52.144,0:09:53.393
they picked Futura.

0:09:53.417,0:09:56.226
It wasn't an astounding choice,[br]it wasn't a radical choice,

0:09:56.250,0:09:58.393
it didn't have anything[br]to do with communism.

0:09:58.417,0:10:01.518
But in this case, it was used[br]on some of the most important maps,

0:10:01.542,0:10:03.393
so this one, an air force map in 1962,

0:10:03.417,0:10:05.833
or used for the maps in Vietnam in '66.

0:10:06.833,0:10:08.143
And so it wasn't a surprise

0:10:08.167,0:10:11.226
that when astronauts[br]first started the Mercury program,

0:10:11.250,0:10:13.060
such as John Glenn orbiting the earth,

0:10:13.084,0:10:15.684
that charts and maps[br]that he was using were in Futura.

0:10:15.708,0:10:19.726
And in fact, by the time[br]Mercury morphed into Apollo,

0:10:19.750,0:10:22.351
it started getting used[br]more and more for more things.

0:10:22.375,0:10:25.018
So in this case for a safety plan,

0:10:25.042,0:10:27.643
or even starting to get used[br]on instrument panels,

0:10:27.667,0:10:29.351
or navigational aids.

0:10:29.375,0:10:32.518
Or even on diagrams[br]to show how the whole system worked.

0:10:32.542,0:10:33.934
But here's the amazing thing,

0:10:33.958,0:10:37.059
it didn't just get used for papers[br]that they handed out to people.

0:10:37.083,0:10:39.018
It started to get used for an interface,

0:10:39.042,0:10:41.268
for an entire system[br]that helped the astronauts

0:10:41.292,0:10:42.809
know how to use the machine.

0:10:42.833,0:10:46.684
NASA wasn't just one big corporation[br]making everything.

0:10:46.708,0:10:48.559
There was hundreds of contractors --

0:10:48.583,0:10:50.976
Boeing, IBM, McDonnell Douglas --

0:10:51.000,0:10:52.434
all making different machines.

0:10:52.458,0:10:56.143
Now imagine if astronauts had to use[br]different typefaces and different systems

0:10:56.167,0:10:59.559
for each component they had[br]in the space shuttles.

0:10:59.583,0:11:01.601
This would have been[br]impossible to navigate

0:11:01.625,0:11:03.768
and there would have been[br]a cognitive overload

0:11:03.792,0:11:05.893
every time they had[br]to open up a new system.

0:11:05.917,0:11:08.559
So in this case, Futura[br]being used on the interface

0:11:08.583,0:11:12.059
helped them navigate complexity[br]and make it more clear.

0:11:12.083,0:11:15.226
And it wasn't just used on buttons,[br]it was used on labels,

0:11:15.250,0:11:17.060
and it was used on their food rations,

0:11:17.084,0:11:19.268
and it was used on their tool kits.

0:11:19.292,0:11:23.351
It was used on knobs and levers[br]to tell them what to do.

0:11:23.375,0:11:25.226
In fact, maybe even some of the places

0:11:25.250,0:11:28.727
where they needed to have things[br]that were complex be more simple to them,

0:11:28.751,0:11:31.309
instructions were printed[br]entirely in Futura,

0:11:31.333,0:11:33.976
so that they could know[br]what to do with that one moment.

0:11:34.000,0:11:36.559
They didn't have to remember[br]everything in their head,

0:11:36.583,0:11:39.518
they could have it out there[br]in the world to see and refer to.

0:11:39.542,0:11:41.684
In this case, Futura helped[br]make that system,

0:11:41.708,0:11:45.018
which was already[br]a very difficult and complex system,

0:11:45.042,0:11:46.417
a little less complex.

0:11:47.083,0:11:50.226
In fact, the very first or last thing[br]an astronaut might have seen

0:11:50.250,0:11:52.559
when they were entering[br]or exiting the spacecraft

0:11:52.583,0:11:53.851
would have been in Futura.

0:11:53.875,0:11:57.018
One of my favorite examples[br]of how Futura worked in this way

0:11:57.042,0:11:58.351
is actually this camera.

0:11:58.375,0:12:02.601
This is a Hasselblad[br]that was made by the Swedish company.

0:12:02.625,0:12:05.559
It's a perfectly good camera,[br]some of you might have used one,

0:12:05.583,0:12:09.434
it's prized by photographers[br]as a really great camera.

0:12:09.458,0:12:12.143
And you might notice,[br]if you know anything about cameras,

0:12:12.167,0:12:14.226
that there's some[br]modifications made to it.

0:12:14.250,0:12:17.476
In this case, there are stickers[br]placed all over the film canisters,

0:12:17.500,0:12:20.226
or other parts of the camera here.

0:12:20.250,0:12:22.309
What this enabled NASA to do,

0:12:22.333,0:12:25.809
was make something really great[br]out of the astronauts.

0:12:25.833,0:12:28.518
They're not photographers,[br]they're not experts in art.

0:12:28.542,0:12:31.684
But they could ensure that they[br]would know how to use this camera

0:12:31.708,0:12:33.893
because of the labels[br]placed there in Futura.

0:12:33.917,0:12:35.184
So in this case,

0:12:35.208,0:12:39.018
Futura acquired and made sure[br]that they had legitimacy

0:12:39.042,0:12:40.643
with the things they were using.

0:12:40.667,0:12:43.809
In this case to not take off the film[br]before it would expose.

0:12:43.833,0:12:45.934
Which, in this case,[br]we would have never had

0:12:45.958,0:12:48.476
some of the amazing photos we had[br]without this label.

0:12:48.500,0:12:54.101
When we see something as decorative[br]as this, a ceremonial patch,

0:12:54.125,0:12:56.309
or something like this plaque on the moon,

0:12:56.333,0:12:59.434
we realize that Futura was more[br]than just something ceremonial,

0:12:59.458,0:13:04.101
something more than something[br]that had just been picked for its design.

0:13:04.125,0:13:06.809
In fact, Futura had authority,

0:13:06.833,0:13:09.309
had legitimacy and had power[br]because of this choice.

0:13:09.333,0:13:12.518
There's one other thing[br]I want to talk about in closing.

0:13:12.542,0:13:16.018
And that is that Futura tells a story.

0:13:16.042,0:13:20.226
And this is what I love about typefaces,[br]is that all of them tell stories.

0:13:20.250,0:13:23.059
And in this case, this typeface[br]tells a very powerful story

0:13:23.083,0:13:26.476
about assimilation, about something[br]being taken into America

0:13:26.500,0:13:28.934
and being made part of its culture.

0:13:28.958,0:13:31.684
And that's one of the best[br]and worst things America does,

0:13:31.708,0:13:34.809
is we take things into our culture[br]and we spit them out back again

0:13:34.833,0:13:36.101
and claim them our own.

0:13:36.125,0:13:39.726
And in this case, Futura mirrors[br]exactly what happened with the technology

0:13:39.750,0:13:41.393
undergirding the whole system.

0:13:41.417,0:13:45.851
Futura was a German typeface,[br]taken in, made into an American commodity.

0:13:45.875,0:13:47.309
And so were the technologies:

0:13:47.333,0:13:50.101
the rockets, the scientists[br]all came from Germany as well.

0:13:50.125,0:13:53.351
So in some ways, this German typeface[br]on an American plaque

0:13:53.375,0:13:55.809
perfectly mirrors what happened[br]with the technology.

0:13:55.833,0:13:57.101
And in this case,

0:13:57.125,0:14:02.601
when you think about this story,[br]you realize that typography on the moon

0:14:02.625,0:14:05.476
represents legitimacy,[br]represents authority,

0:14:05.500,0:14:09.184
and this gave them, the astronauts,[br]the power to get to the moon.

0:14:09.208,0:14:10.476
Thank you.

0:14:10.500,0:14:13.083
(Applause)