The new Suitcase application allows you to attach specific keywords to any and every font on your system. Because I have over 1400 typefaces on my Mac, it would be incredibly useful to index these with keywords that made sense.
But how do you coherently define a typeface that will make sense not tomorrow, but 23 days from now when there is exactly 8 minute left to find the right font family? Well, here’s a starter list of keywords:
19th c.
cool type
emigre
german
hebrew
helveticas
oddballs
referential
romans
small
western
Here’s what Fonts.com uses for some of its indexing:
casual
calligraphic
formal
blackletter
kids
scary
western
technical
image
famous
language
The key on “western” makes particular sense to me as I’ve noticed a lot of interest lately in reproducing the westernized feel of design and design elements (e.g. Starbucks Xmas coffee campaign).