Community-Powered Typography
Typophiles rejoice! Typedia, a community typography web resource launched this week, bringing new hope to those aimlessly wondering around the web in search of the perfect font. Typedia promises to help classify and educate people about typefaces with the web community as their power source. Here’s their description from the first Typedia blog post:
“Think of it as IMDb.com for type, but anyone can contribute. You can list typefaces (as well as foundries and designers), and other members can add to or complete your entries. We’ve also started a section of the site to learn about different terms related to type and the different ways they are classified.”
If this is done right, and it seems to have taken a fantastic first step, Typedia could be a heavily relied upon resource for any content creator. In the spirt of the new and wonderful open internet, community policing will help everyone create better typographic solutions.
One of the interesting features is the ‘In the Wild’ section which appears on a specimen page. Its a quick link to a flickr search of anything tagged with the specific font you’re looking for. What’s great about it is that looking at a specimen sheet and seeing the same typeface used in a design are two very different things. This provides inspiration and continues the community discussion with another valuable visual resource.
Also on the specimen page is a ‘Similar Typefaces’ section. For anyone who has a fussy client that just isn’t happy with their typeface but isn’t sure why, this will be a life saver!
In their EXPLORE section they rely on a tagging system to get you where you want. A simple but effective gradient of color reveals the most used tags. Common terms like san-serif and serif at the top and more specific terms like fat and counterless at the bottom. 
Jason Santa Maria, currently serving as Creative Director for A List Apart (an online magazine for people who make websites) seems to be the brains behind the operation as he explains on his personal blog post. He lists other contributors and their roles:
- Design: Me, Khoi Vinh, John Langdon (logo), Dan Cederholm (icons)
- Front-end code: Dan Mall, Dan Rubin
- Back-end code: Mark Huot, Brian Warren, Ryan Masuga, Ethan Marcotte, Aaron Gustafson, and Shaun Inman
- Information architecture: Liz Danzico
- Classification and Logic: Mark Simonson, Stephen Coles, Kristin Dooley
