Why the excitement?
You’re probably amused by how excited I am about finally being able to use Chaparral on this website (the typeface, not the California shrubland ecoregion the typeface is named after).
I get it. Most people aren’t typeface nerds.
So I thought I’d explain how, ever since I stopped using ‘web safe’ typefaces when I moved to the Squarespace platform in 2013, I’ve been wanting to use Chaparral for this website’s body text.
But then I realised that, instead of telling you, I could show you.
Here are all the site-header images I’ve created for insanityworks.org since I migrated it to Squarespace. Even the first header image I created was an attempt to use the closest alternative to Chaparral available at the time.
Graphic titled ‘Journey to using Chaparral on my website’. The graphic shows five site-header images that have the phrase “Insanity Works” in white text overlaid on a photo. Each of these images uses a different typeface, and most of the images have a call-out pointing to them. The first image (from 2013) uses the Coustard typeface and its call-out reads, “1. Coustard was one of the early alternatives to Chaparral that I tried (note the similarities)”. The second image (from 2014) uses Oswald and its call-out reads, “2. Switched to using Oswald (the headings typeface) instead”. The third image (from 2019) uses Merriweather Sans, but has no call-out and the typeface name as the word ‘Test’ written next to it. The fourth image (from 2019) is in Merriweather and its call-out reads, “3. Tested the sans option, but then settled on the original (serif) Merriweather”. The fifth and final image (from 2023) is in Chaparral and its call-out reads, “4. Finally able to use Chaparral!”.
Basically, this whole decade has been a journey to Chaparral. And after ten years of wanting to do something, I am finally able to do it. That is why I am so excited to be where we are now :)