'Not a hotel': Ex-White House calligrapher daunted by signs Trump's draped over building
Design experts puzzled over new signage added to the White House by President Donald Trump.
Visitors were greeted earlier this month by a makeshift sign – appearing to be plain white paper with ornate gold typeface – announcing the location of the Oval Office on an exterior entrance, which drew widespread mockery online and on late night talk shows, and the Washington Post asked experts to comment on the display.
"It’s customary to ask economists what the president doing with the economy or military experts about what president is doing with the military," wrote Post reporter Maura Judkis, seemingly surprised by her own assignment. "So, what do design professionals think of the type the president is putting on the side of the White House?"
The Oval Office sign's lettering resembles another sign, for the “Presidential Walk of Fame," that first appeared as a mock-up decal on an exterior wall at the White House, and both use the Shelley Script font.
“Shelley is accessible, but it’s kind of pedestrian amongst the scripts,” said Rick Paulus, who held the title of White House chief calligrapher during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Judkis referred to his remark as a "very polite diss," and the typography expert elaborated.
"The connecting strokes from letter to letter are largely relatively weak,” he explained. “Scripts tend to be a little more elegant when they’re a little more compressed.”
Paul Shaw, a graphic designer and historian of typography, told the Post that Trump was "branding his presidency [and] his occupancy" with the signs, but Paulus questioned their appropriateness.
“There’s incredibly little signage of any sort in the White House,” Paulus sighed. “It’s a house. It’s not a hotel. It’s not a club.”
Neither Clinton nor Bush offered input on his decisions while Paulus was working at the White House, although first lady Laura Bush occasionally weighed in, and a White House spokesman confirmed that Trump was "personally and very involved in these beautification projects" – and Paulus questioned whether the president was spending his time wisely.
“If he’s spending even 10 hours meeting with people about this stuff, that’s 10 hours he should be dedicating to something else,” Paulus said.
Other experts questioned the font choice, when asked.
“I’m sure I’ve seen it on a restaurant menu, for instance,” said Thomas Phinney, a type designer and expert at identifying fonts.
“It’s historically too light and weak for signage,” agreed Shaw.
Tim Cramer, who owns the conservative-leaning creative design agency Mosaic, also had reservations about the lettering.
“I’m not crazy about that font,” said Cramer, a Trump supporter. “It’s high-class. It looks fancy, [but] it’s not utilitarian. It is just the opposite of what it is being used for.”
“I would have made it a plaque," Cramer added, "probably something made out of bronze with a utilitarian font that is high contrast against both the background and the substrate of the building, so that if you look at it at a distance, you can see it easily.”