An expensive and unnecessary makeover

James Daunt, the Managing Director of the Waterstone’s book chain, has decided to dump the apostrophe to make it more ‘versatile and practical’. Practical for who? Those who want to buy online?  I think Google can cope with the old spelling and this move is hardly likely to recapture the trade lost to Amazon. Daunt went on to talk of introducing ‘a font that reflects authority and confidence.’ Now we’re getting nearer to his thinking: design and lettering are a subtle way of influencing purchasers.

A study was done showing that students who submitted the same work in different fonts got better grades if they used, say, Times Roman, than Georgia.
Changing the Waterstone’s lettering and ditching the apostrophe will cost the company plenty: just think of employing all those sign writers and buying thousands of new bags for a start.  It had better be worth it - in the end it’s the customers who will be paying.

(The photo was taken at the O2 Centre in Finchley Road, London. I wonder if the book chain owner would like to get the cafe renamed too!)