In Sweden, I can sense that square-ish clean sans fonts are a little bit hot right now, but maybe it’s just me feeling this (?). Fonts like Neo Sans, that is. Two big companies have fonts like that in their new corporate identity, and I also spot similar fonts on new logos showing.

is it possible to show me an example? or a link to an example of this squarishness?

Go to fontshop.com and look at Neo Sans.

More trends: Web 2.0 Fonts.

i was going to say rounded fonts, but stephen beat me! another trendy trend is the paper cutout look with counters punched out ala comedy central, virgin mobile, &c.

At least the Web 2.0 logo trends are far better than their predecessors.
As little as five years ago, everyone was still doing the Millennium Orbital Crescent Swish!

Whatever trends we collectively notice, it's too late.

hhp

never too late to jump on the bandwagon. :P

Examples:

Squarish
Roundish

Yes, this is a self-serving plug, and the fonts kind of suck, but cut me some slack; these are among the first fonts I ever designed, from many years ago. It's nice to see that trendyness has caught up with them.

Fette Fraktur on anything, Zapfino on hip hop or anything low-budget that wants to look nice, Papyrus why won't you die?, anything rounded, slabs used on fake gourmet food, Trajan: It's not just for movies anymore, etc.

If you really want to know what's in, go to the mall. See what's on book covers, in magazines, on posters in shop windows, and screened onto t-shirts. Keep in mind that font trends vary by region. I just flew back in from Arizona, and I think about half the type in local magazines had been set in script faces—mostly Zapfino—and people out there are still carving new metal letters in Papyrus, as opposed to here in DC where it's just the font for the bottom feeders lately.

i agree cutlefish. when i was recently doing reserach on business and education based logos, most of them were swooshes. glad we tend to look beyond them now.

so i guess UK style and US style would differ massively then?

so i guess UK style and US style would differ massively then?

Yes—although there is a strong tendency for those nations to pick things up from each other since there's almost no language barrier. But there will also be trends that get into both nations simultaneously simply because so many consumer products are sold in both nations.

I've noticed a revival of stencil fonts a while ago, but it seems to be passing slowly.
I'd say anything rounded like Frankfurter is coming back. Ornamental fonts have also had a comeback not that long ago (especially woodtype fonts). At least that is what I've noticed...

that's quite interesting, tom. i was asked to write a blurb on type predictions for 2007 for a design magazine, and i predicted that the victorian aesthetic of superornamentation and of chunky type would continue to expand in the next year. of course, that was just an extrapolation of what is already happening. what i didn't say (but wanted to) is that the rounded type and papercut looks i mentioned in my previous post will die out this next year. >^p

I actually thought the rounded types were going to be around for a while still, but I do think there are local trends in type as well. I've noticed that even in a small country like Belgium the choice of fonts for restaurants etc. varies quite a lot. What surprises me is that no one here mentioned stencil fonts. I've been seeing quite a lot of them in the past year, but maybe that's just a local thing as well ;-)

Rounded type is coming back slowly, but for it to work it has to sneak it's way via general use as an alternative to sticking Helvetica on everything. I don't think that we'll see it make a big comeback as a large-size display face like it was in the 60s and 70s, and I think it will be confined to AG, Arial, and Helvetica rounded. Frankfurter is just too over the top to get really big, and VAG Rounded seems likely to be avoided because of its connection to Volkswagen advertising.

And why is Volkswagen in the Firefox dictionary but not ebook?

I have to kindly disagree. I think rounded type could easily be used in display settings and it won't be confined to AG, Arial, and Helvetica. For instance, Omnes by Joshua Darden is a gorgeous rounded sans with such capabilities.

Needless to say that some things never go out of style. I've seen a lot of "Helvetica bashing" on this site, but in all honesty I admire it for what it is. Its timeless design, legibility & many styles make it the perfect font. While having been designed in 1957 (if I'm not mistaking), it still works in modern advertisements. For anyone in the designing business it might look a bit out of date, but I think that's mainly due to overuse & not to its appearance. Its a multifunctional font & that's something to admire regards of whether you like it or not.

I don’t think that we’ll see it make a big comeback as a large-size display face like it was in the 60s and 70s

i'll take a photo of the billboard down the block for you...

VAG Rounded seems likely to be avoided because of its connection to Volkswagen advertising

...or the GAP window displays...