Seriously, you think Clarendon is a great "back pocket", "top of my tool drawer" typeface for designers to be using?
If I'm theoretically limited to only 25 typefaces, there should be room for a few slab-serifs, and I don't see why Clarendon couldn't be one of them. It's a classic slab-serif in the same way that Helvetica and Akzidenz are classic sans-serifs. I don't think it's great because Pitchfork and Ruby Tuesday use it, I'm saying that it's more relevant than you suggested. Designers, somehow, ARE using it.
Maybe there is a Clarendon revival. Don't forget that trends are a big part of graphic design, as they are in any design industry. Helvetica, Avant Garde, Clarendon go in and out of style just like tapered jeans, Ray-Bans, and plaid shirts.
And in 25 typefaces with a few slab serifs, you'd do Clarendon before Archer, PMN Caecilia (best ital ever), Joanna, or Chaparral? More to the point --- bringing it back to the post --- if the other slab you were stuck with was Rockwell, you'd use Clarendon as your backup? Two faces that would both look at home on a WPA-era wrought iron factory gate?
What parts of my criticism are wrong? I'm sure there's lots wrong, and I'm happy to be called out, as long as I'm going to learn something from it.
That's a purely subjective matter. I might like the typefaces you mentioned more than Clarendon, but I don't think it's absurd for someone to think Clarendon is a good one to have. Why did Pitchfork and Wells Fargo and Ruby Tuesday choose Clarendon instead of those fonts? I'm not sure, maybe they just decided it was a better fit. Erik Spiekermann thinks Helvetica is terrible — is he right? I don't know...some people love it.
Maybe Clarendon and Rockwell are redundant in the context of the article, but you said that Clarendon was "terribly out fashion", and "really?". That's what I was responded to.
The parts of your criticism that are wrong are the ones that are either not based in reality, or personal opinions stated as fact.
It's funny to me, because I originally wrote (Optima, Rotis) and re-read the post 5 minutes later after re-reading the post and edited Clarendon onto the list. I went out of my way to annoy you! I may have an irrational hatred of Clarendon.
If I'm theoretically limited to only 25 typefaces, there should be room for a few slab-serifs, and I don't see why Clarendon couldn't be one of them. It's a classic slab-serif in the same way that Helvetica and Akzidenz are classic sans-serifs. I don't think it's great because Pitchfork and Ruby Tuesday use it, I'm saying that it's more relevant than you suggested. Designers, somehow, ARE using it.
Maybe there is a Clarendon revival. Don't forget that trends are a big part of graphic design, as they are in any design industry. Helvetica, Avant Garde, Clarendon go in and out of style just like tapered jeans, Ray-Bans, and plaid shirts.