Not all "quotes" are “quotes”
At Font Club Belgica, one of our raison d’être is to educate and mentor (type)designers. This article is part of an ongoing series that highlights details in typography and the changes we notice in the field.
In design, the smallest details often carry the most meaning. There are conventions that have been passed down through generations of typesetters and craftsmen. Some off these are local traditions shaped by local language, others evolve slowly on a global scale. Typesetting quotes is one of these, but don’t quote us on that.
Historically, Belgian graphic designers are trained to follow what’s often remembered as the “69 quotes” rule: you start with a six and you end with a nine. If you’re abbreviating something, you use an apostrophe.
- So it’s it’s and not it's.
- And it’s ’29 and not ‘12.
Different languages follow different conventions for quotation marks. Most word processors will autocorrect them for you, but not all errors are caught—and some are broken on purpose. As with any great rule, there are exceptions. One notable outlier? Streetwear. More specifically: Off-White and its late founder, Virgil Abloh, who became a champion of the straight quote.
But what are “proper” quotation marks, anyway?
Typographic expert Robert Bringhurst, in his book The Elements of Typographic Style, lays it out:
“A standard ISO font includes four forms of guillemet and six forms of Anglo-Germanic quotation mark —‘ ’ ‚ „ “ ”— but one of these is identical with the comma and one with the apostrophe. In English and Spanish, common usage is ‘thus’ and “thus”; in German, it is ‚thus’ and „thus“. This difference is parallel to the difference in usage of guillemot’s. In the Romance languages, guillemets point outward, and in German they point in. In French, “comme ça” and «comme ça»; in German, „aux diese Weise“ and »diese Weise«.”
That’s the baseline. But if that’s the standard, why are straight quotes —those uncurved, typewriter-style marks— so common today? Aren’t those reserved for notations of time and coördinates? They are the symbols for minutes and seconds after all.
Off-White made straight quotes cool
Enter Virgil Abloh (°1980 - †2021), a fashion designer, architect, and cultural disruptor whose work blurred the lines between irony and branding. One of his signature moves was the deliberate use of straight quotes around text, often printed directly on products.
Think:
"SHOELACES" on shoelaces
"FOR WALKING" on boots
"SCULPTURE" on a handbag
To the untrained eye, this might look edgy or minimalist. But to a designer or typographer, it’s a conscious rejection of typographic convention. Abloh’s quotes weren’t about punctuation—they were commentary. Each label became a meta-label.
The irony? It caught on.
From Branding to Trend to Type Misuse
Abloh wasn’t wrong to use straight quotes, they served his conceptual purpose. But what started as intentional design has now become widespread misuse.
Today, straight quotes show up in:
- Instagram captions
- Streetwear brands
- Logo’s
- Abbreviated years
The problem? Most people aren’t using them ironically. They’re just copying the look—often unaware they’re bypassing centuries of typographic tradition. And typographically speaking, these aren’t even quote marks. They’re actually used for time or geolocation notation with ' being minutes and " being used for seconds.
Proper, curly quotes —“like this”— guide the reader’s eye. They signal the beginning and end of your quotation. Even when the message is raw, they bring refinement.
But isn’t rule #1: there are no rules?
Sure. Rules are made to be broken—and straight quotes can look great in sans-serif designs. If they’re here to stay, maybe conservative typographers just need to loosen up a bit.
But for most use cases such as serif type, we feel there’s no debate: use proper quotes.
As with most things in design, context is key:
- Typesetting a long article with multiple quotes and source? … Use curly quotes.
- Designing a poster or branding some merch with key words in sans serif type? … Go ahead and use straight quotes.
Cheatsheet: Common HTML entities
| CHARACTER | GLYPH | ALPHA | UNICODE | W3C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guillemets | « » | « » | « » | "e; |
| Single quotes | ‘ ’ | ‘ ’ | ‘ ’ | ’ or ' |
| Single low quote | ‚ | ‚ | ‚ | ’ or comma |
| Double quotes | “ ” | “ ” | “ ” | ”, ", , or `` |
| Double low quote | „ | „ | „ | " or ,, |
| Prime & double prime | ′ ″ | ′ ″ | ′ ″ | ’, , ', ", |
So what should you do?
To quote Stanley Morison: “Type design moves at the pace of the most conservative reader.”
Typography is about communication. Every mark matters. As long as your quote style matches your intent and context, you’re on the right track. Just remember: consistency is key.
Whether you use straight quotes depends on your flavor and medium. But please, don’t abbreviate a date like this: ‘18.
Do yourself —and your readers— a favor:
Cmd+F / Ctrl+F your document for quote consistency before exporting your: Project_final_final-FINAL-really.pdf
You can quote us on that.