HiLobrow’s Most Visited (2014)

By: HILOBROW
December 31, 2014

Between January 1 and December 31 of 2014, the following posts were our most heavily trafficked.

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10 MOST VISITED HILOBROW POSTS & PAGES in 2014

The 200 Greatest Adventures (1804–1983) — a list created in October 2013 by HILOBROW’s Joshua Glenn, in the course of researching the best adventures of the 19th Century, the Nineteen-Oughts, the Teens, the Twenties, and so forth — received some 50,000 unique visitors in 2014.
By far the most trafficked post in HILOBROW’s popular August 2014 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM series (about typography) was Alissa Walker’s entry on the 1983 typeface Chicago. It got a nice bump when it was republished by Slate. In fact, at the moment it’s the 20th most popular post HILOBROW has ever published!

Alix Lambert’s April 2012 HiLo Hero item on June and Jennifer Gibbons continued to be of tremendous interest, two years later. It’s on HILOBROW’s Top 10 Most Visited Ever list — currently at No. 10.
Joshua Glenn’s November 2013 list of the 60 Best Espionage Adventures continued to draw visitors; apparently, espionage is the HiLobrow reader’s adventure genre of choice.
Joshua Glenn’s March 2013 exposé of the secret origin of the “Calvin Peeing” meme continues to shock and amaze.

Molly Sauter’s April 2012 deep-dive into the history and meaning of the “Occupy mask” continues to resurface on listservs out there. It’s on HILOBROW’s Top 10 Most Visited Ever list — currently at No. 8.
Matthew Battles’s August 2014 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on Aldus Manutius’s 16th century typeface Aldine Italic was a favorite both in-house and among readers.
Much like the elder god Cthulhu, Erik Davis’s May 2010 POP ARCANA entry on the subject of “Cute Cthulhu” artifacts is apparently immortal. It’s the most popular post we’ve ever published; it’s been visited over 100,000 times.
Jessamyn West’s counter-intuitive August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on Vincent Connare’s typeface Comic Sans was widely discussed. Particularly after this post was republished by Slate.
Sherri Wasserman’s August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on the Toronto Subway’s typeface was widely circulated — among type enthusiasts and subway/train system enthusiasts alike.

10 MOST VISITED HILOBROW POSTS & PAGES in 2014… THAT WERE PUBLISHED IN 2014

As noted above, Alissa Walker’s August 2014 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM entry on the 1983 typeface Chicago was very popular with readers.
As noted above, Matthew Battles’s August 2014 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on Aldus Manutius’s 16th century typeface Aldine Italic made the needle jump, too.

As noted above, Jessamyn West’s counter-intuitive August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on Vincent Connare’s typeface Comic Sans was widely discussed.
As noted above, Sherri Wasserman’s August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on the Toronto Subway’s typeface was widely circulated — among type enthusiasts and subway/train system enthusiasts alike.
Adam McGovern’s August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on Bob Newman’s 1970 typeface Data 70 exploded synapses everywhere.
Peggy Nelson’s August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on the 1927 typeface Futura sparked interest — particularly after it was republished by Slate.

Mark Kingwell’s tell-all August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on Eric Gill and the 1926 typeface Gill Sans got tongues wagging.
Tom Nealon’s August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on Nicolas Jenson’s 15th century typeface Jenson’s Roman found an enthusiastic readership, thanks in part to its republication by Slate.
Helene Silverman’s August 2013 KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM post on a found typeface (or collection of typefaces) she calls Chinese Shipping Box squeaks onto the list — phew! We’re glad; it’s one of our faves.
Last but certainly not least: Our 10th most visited HiLobrow post of 2014 that was published in 2014 is not a KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM entry! Instead, it’s Rob Walker’s found epic poem, “2013 Obits.”

10 MOST VISITED HILOBROW POSTS & PAGES in 2014… THAT WERE PUBLISHED IN 2014 & AREN’T ABOUT TYPOGRAPHY

Rob Walker’s January 2014 found epic poem, “2013 Obits” claws its way past all those KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM posts to the top of this list. Well done!

Devin McKinney’s terrific PHONE HORROR series ran from June through July of 2014. This entry, from June, on the crypto-science of using the telephone as a medium for contacting spirits, was particularly well-received.
Tor Aarestad’s February 2014 post on Charles Dickens was the most popular HiLo Hero item of the year! No doubt because it includes, in its entirety, the poem “Ode to an expiring Frog.”
Gary Panter’s April 2014 HiLo Hero item on Japanese cartoonist Shigeru Sugiura also blew readers’ minds.

William Nericcio’s September 2014 HiLo Hero item on Charles Burns. This confirms our sneaking suspicion that HILOBROW readers can’t get enough posts about comics and comics artists. (Nericcio’s post on Ernie Bushmiller almost made the list, too.)
Robert Wringham’s August 2014 HiLo Hero item on Robert Crumb. ’Nuff said!
Devin McKinney’s first PHONE HORROR series installment, from June 2014, introduced his uncanny theme.
Adrienne Crew’s March 2014 HiLo Hero item on William Morris. As Adrienne puts it: “Too bad the visionary artist and author is now synonymous with middlebrow good taste and patterned wallpaper.”
Adam McGovern holds down the final two spots on this list; we could ask for no worthier caboose. Coming in at #9 is Adam’s terrific March 2014 HiLo Hero item on Piet Mondrian.

Last but not least, Adam McGovern’s July 2014 post on Jack Kirby’s “Fourth World” mythos — the first in a most excellent series (all published in July) titled FOURTH WORLD.

Thanks for visiting HiLobrow! See you in 2015…