This post is part of a series called Hypefaces, where we explore the history and evolution around popular (and not-so-popular) typefaces.
Feelin’ Crabby
Unfortunately, this next typeface has received much hype, and disdain: it’s “thenewComic Sans.” Lobster and Comic Sans share some similarities: they are both visibly and strikingly different from other typefaces, which appeals to someone who wants to “stand out” from boring ol’ serif and sans-serif typefaces. They are friendly and playful. Lobster is cursive without being pretentious. It is sturdy without being bulky. It echoes a retro vibe without slapping you in the face with a 1920s ad for halitosis. It has hallmarks of hand-lettered signage, when billboards were painted by hand.
Home Run Inspections. Panama City Beach, FL
The Shell
The typeface Lobster, and its successor, Lobster Two (collectively, “The Lobsters”), appear on the outside as a simple, legible script that isn’t too fancy or too informal. It’s free, so it’s easy to acquire. And boy, did the masses gobble it up like an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet.
“Type designers don’t like free fonts in general. They want people to pay for fonts. I want fonts to be libre. I recently rejected an offer from Monotype. I prefer to keep releasing libre fonts as long as I possibly can.”
I’ve seen this typeface used on plumbing company vans, restaurant menus, in Etsy shops, festival t-shirts, day care logos, kitschy home décor, and everything in between–and sometimes in industries that have no business using it.
Frank Wood & Son Plumbing & Electrical. Panama City Beach, Florida
The Meaty Inside
The truth of the matter is: it’s not a bad typeface. Is overused? Sure, but that’s not the typeface’s fault (in fact, you could argue its overuse is a testament to its quality). From a technical and practical use standpoint, it is a very good typeface. Its designer put great attention to detail into crafting this typeface–especially after Google emailed him directly to be included in the nascent Google Fonts.
The modern iteration (Lobster Two) is fully loaded with hundreds of ligatures and alternates; for the layman, that means the designer paid attention to how each and every letter could interact with another, and offered a variety of ways to connect them (ligatures, like /fi/ and /tt/), or provided other options for how a letter is shaped (called alternates). Lobster’s ligatures make its letters connect seamlessly, which can be a struggle in some other casual script faces.
Lobster Two can safely be called a full font, unlike the FHWA typeface, because it offers the full set of Latin and Cyrillic letters, all punctuation, symbols, and numbers.
Lobster and Lobster Two are easy to use in a variety of media, including metal or vinyl cutting, because the letters are thick and sturdy. When the cutter is “weeding” the material, there aren’t many fine, skinny areas to weed out.
The Lobsters, because of their thickness and how smoothly the letters typically connect, are legible both from a distance, like on a store’s street signage; and by aging eyes, like small text on a menu.
I was asked to use Lobster on a label design from 2016:
Coneheads 8020 hired me to design their exclusive beer, 30E Lager.
The Migration
Lobster has humble beginnings. It was officially launched in 2010 from a Rosario, Argentina type designer named Pablo Impallari of Impallari Type. Initially a programmer, Impallari became a self-taught type designer after he got bored coding. He was trying to learn how to use this font software when he started what he calls, “an experiment.” The beta version of Lobster was missing several letters, uppercase, punctuation, and numbers–it technically wasn’t a font!
“Pablo Impallari’s Lobster font is one of the most popular fonts on the web. Its exciting design, excellent OpenType features, constant development and inclusion in the launch of Google Web Fonts last year have made it a favourite for millions of people.”
Lobster Two was updated and later launched in 2011 by adding more readability and features, like upright, italic, and bold styles, and additional languages. It was later extended into Thai as the separate typeface Pattaya, by Cadson Demak, a type foundry in Thailand. This special use-case was needed because Thai has unique marks for vowels and tonal inflections that aren’t in Spanish or English, and it changes the way the individual letters look and fit together.
Lobster became a worldwide collaboration, with Alexei Vanyashin and Gayaneh Bagdasaryan adding support for Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Macedonian, Moldovan, and Serbian languages.1
Plus, Lobster is not just all over the web. It is all over the world, on menus, billboards, social media posts, logos, and other casual, exciting, and inviting environments. Because the font is free, legible, and unique, it gained worldwide popularity fast. How does Impallari feel when he sees his typeface in use? Judge for yourself. He proudly displays his font in use right on his website:
The Destination
Where might you want to use Lobster? What applications are appropriate? In my professional opinion, there’s aren’t many places The Lobsters are inappropriate. So let’s start there: first and foremost, they are inappropriate for organizations that deal with serious or formal subject matter, such as legal services, government, health care, and life and death (like insurance or funeral homes). I would even argue weddings are too formal for The Lobsters. If your organization has a Board of Directors, shareholders or investors, or a Business Development team, it is too mature and formal for Lobster in any owned marketing (there are, of course, some exceptions).
The Lobsters are best served in informal environments, where the expectation of having fun is reasonable, like casual dining restaurants, discount shopping locations, and some music venues. Basically: if you can wear flip-flops to it, you can probably use The Lobsters for it.
Shuckums Oyster Pub & Seafood Restaurant menu. Panama City Beach, Florida.Lagoon Pontoons. Panama City Beach, Florida.
Imitation Lobster
So, if you don’t want to use Lobster, are there similar ones? Well, yes. Sort of. Although there are many thick, sturdy script fonts, few really capture the utility and readability of The Lobsters without downright ripping it off. Have a look:
