Tumblr committed Type Crime

Tumblr homepage is simply beautiful, minimal and to the point but they committed a type crime even in this little amount of text. Tumblr is using prime mark (a.k.a. dumb quote) instead of  closed quotation mark (or apostrophe).

Ellen Lupton in Thinking with Type says:

The purpose of prime marks, or hatch marks, is to indicate inches and feet. Their use to mark quotation is a common blight across the typographic landscape.

Tumblr Homepage with Prime Mark
Tumblr homepage with Prime Mark
Tumblr Homepage with Quotation Mark
Tumblr homepage with Closed Quotation Mark (or apostrophe)

Details Matter 🙂

2 Comments

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  • # MIchael
    says on March 06

    Yes, indeed it is a type crime; however, it is technically functioning as an apostrophe not a quotation mark.


  • # Amrinder
    says on March 07

    Your are right, Michael. I would rather say, “Tumblr is using prime mark (a.k.a. dumb quote) instead of closed quotation mark (or apostrophe)”.