Bored with Poppins & Inter, here are some new fresh sans-serif for 2023.
INTRO
He has done it again, crazy episode from a crazy screenwriter
I started to watch Black Mirror when I was 18 and I can't describe the shock that I felt. It is one of the series that made me this much interested in technology. For the people who doesn't know the series yet, (shame on you!) it's basically an antology series, so each episode tells a different story which focuses on distopic technological themes and British screenwriter Charlie Brooker is mostly writing the scripts even though directors and actors may vary. I thought that Charlie Brooker was a technology hater but it wasn't like that. For him, technology isn't awful or scary, people are. The episode "Nodesive" published in 2016, and we can see from today that it was an extremely accurate estimation of todays social media.
"I like technology, but 'Black Mirror' is more what the consequences are, and it doesn't tend to be about technology itself: it tends to be how we use or misuse it. We've not really thought through the consequences of it."
-Charlie Brooker
We are in a pinkish world which is ruled by an application like Instagram, but people are rating each other out of 5 after each encounter and with those rates, they are increasing the chances of reaching better quality services and opportunities in everywhere. Furthermore, with a digial contact lens we are able too see each others rates and profiles without checking our hardware. Rates are everywhere!
THE EFFECTS
You are the best mate :)
Fake smiles, superficial conversations and flawless appereances. Almost everybody is becoming a people pleaser and starts to be like everyone else. Don't talk so much with low rates, it might decrease your public perspective and rates in the end too.
Strategic approaches for better rates are ruling the world and our main character Lacie has been wearing a mask for so long that she is even forgetting that she wears a mask. Also, with the help of the lenses, it becomes a public norm to check our conversation partners profile before talking with them, even when we are in the same place and without asking them like: "Hey, what you have been up to lately?" It is easy to say that people don't talk with each other long and sincere enough now. Efforts are mostly on the side of being "nice" and they fear from taking a risk by just being themselves. Because nobody likes who's different, right?
There are even career advisors for better rates and Lacie has been paying money for this service.
However, as in all of the stories, there are unconventional types too, like the small brother of Lacie, Ryan. He doesn't care about his score too much and living a life on his own. He knows Lacie's past version and misses her. On top of that, he is making fun of Lacie's behaviours and they have frequently arguements because of that. Lacie has goals for buying a better house and she is accusing Ryan with being an unresponsible house geek.
THE PLAN
I need you Naomi
For buying the house in her dreams, Lacie needs at least 4.5 rate and for that, she has to get into the circle of so many high rates. The plan is simple, getting in touch with her childhood friend whom she hated and revive an old friendship with fake smiles.. Because she is 4.8, even a prime user! Lacie was shy at first since Naomi looks like high-class and unreachable but her plan works and Lacie has been invited to Naomi's wedding as wedding speaker. It's a great opportunity for her.
The road trip is not going as she expected and with unlucky encounters, her rates has been decreasing dramatically. Few time left for the wedding and her nerves are so dense now. She is also angry.
And after a public discomfort, she has been punished by the police at the airport with double damage ban. She needs to be more careful now with her anger. What a perfect way to control people, I wouldn't be surprised to see this feature in George Orwell's 1984. Be nice or suffer. With her new rate, the quality of the services they receive drops immediately. She has to drive to the wedding in a terrible car and it breaks down on the way.
Just at this time, a truck driver Susan is stopping for taking Lacie and this encounter becomes a breakpoint for Lacie's transformation. Susan sees her young version in Lacie and advices her to just be herself, being honest and shout freely. Lacie listens to him with blank eyes first, because she believes that she has so many things to lose. Susan is already old.
We are seeing an indirect Matrix reference here. Susan offers Lacie two choices at first, blue bottle for coffee and red bottle for whiskey. Lacie doesn't choose one at first but before dropping Lacie, Susan says that she has included something in her suitcase in case of she will need. Lacie learns that Naomi doesn't want her anymore in the wedding after her new low rate and they are having an arguement. They are both confessing that everything were for better public appereance and higher scores. And this is the moment, Lacie becomes Neo in Matrix and chooses the red bottle, which is whiskey. :) In Matrix, red pill was for awakening to the reality and blue pill was for staying in the artifical world. She will go to the wedding whatever happens, she needs that rates from high profiles.
By running away from security guards, Lacie is giving her honest speech and exposes everyone's deceit. She says she was bullied by Naomi when she was a child and Naomi slept with her boyfriend. After venting all his anger at the system, he pulls out a knife and is apprehended by security guards.
THE REALITY
Prison or freedom?
Lacie finds herself in prison and gets into a verbal exchange with another inmate just like her. They tell each other honestly what they think and, without holding back, hurl insults and yell at each other freely. At the end, we are seeing Lacie truly smiling for the first time. She is free now. And she is Lacie.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Not caring is a new kind of courage
Social media platforms has been hiddenly imposing social status signals to us with numerical datas and we have been always finding ourselves comparing ourselves with others. The virtual worlds of the past are gradually evolving into the reality of today, and within this false reality, we are increasingly losing our individuality and becoming more and more alike. And while a life spent constantly worrying about what others think of us and trying to please them may be comfortable, it is not a sustainable or meaningful life. Today, the greatest courage lies in staying true to oneself and being honest. Despite low rates…
"I started saying what I wanted, when I wanted. Just drop it out there... It is incredible how fast you slip off the ladder when you start doing that. It turned out a lot of my friends didn't care for honesty... But, Jesus Christ, it felt good, shedding those fuckers. It was like taking off tight shoes."
-Susan
