Typeface Review: "Gill Sans"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface created in 1926 by Eric Gill. It was developed further, into a complete type family, after being commissioned by Stanley Morison to compete with the families of Erbar, Futura, and Kabel. In 1928, Gill Sans was released by Monotype Corporation.

"The uppercase characters of Gill Sans are based on Roman capitals like those found in Caslon and Baskerville. There are fourteen styles in the family. Gill Sans is distributed as a system font with Mac OS X and is bundled with some Microsoft products as Gill Sans MT." (Source #1)

"Originally designed as a display face, like the Johnston Underground letters to which it owes a considerable debt of influence, the clarity of Gill Sans subsequently led to its adoption as a text face. Gill Sans is a quintessential Humanist Sans typeface: a monoline form based upon classical proportions. [Eric] Gill was primarily a lettercutter, who approached the industrial processes of commercial type design with some initial reluctance, and his first face for Monotype reflects his grounding in the proportions of the Roman letter." (Source #2)

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What Type of Font It Is: Humanist Sans Serif - "Within the context of sans serif faces, the term 'Humanist' refers to faces based upon a classical or early Humanist model, in which the underlying proportions are derived from the Roman capital letter.

"Humanist Sans typefaces function well for the setting of extended text, though they do not as a rule provide for very economical setting because most have a lower x-height than the Grotesques. Heavier weights may be effectively used for smaller quantities of text, and benefit from generous leading.

"Humanist Sans faces are notable for their compatibility with classic serif types, and can be paired with a number of Humanist, Garalde, and Transitional faces that are based upon similar Roman proportions." (Source #3)

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How You Can Design With It: "Gill Sans has a less mechanical feel to it than typefaces like Futura, because of its basis in Roman tradition. The lowercase letters are modeled on the lowercase Carolignian script, which is especially noticeable in the two-story lowercase “a” and “g”. This basis in traditional, classical typefaces gives Gill Sans a more refined look than many other sans serif typefaces.

"Gill Sans is ideal for display uses, and can be used successfully as a text font at larger sizes. It’s best suited for modern designs, though it can be combined successfully with more traditional typefaces for classic designs." (Source #1)

Where You Can Get It: You can purchase it at LinoType, MyFonts, FontShop, Webtype, Fonts.com, Ascender Fonts, Microsoft, and Adobe. You can also download a free version at UFonts and FontPalace.

Descriptive Terms for It: 1920s, classic, display, Eric Gill, Humanist Sans, modern, poster, poster design, and sans serif.

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Sources:
- #1 - http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/08/the-most-popular-fonts-used-by-designers/
- #2 - "The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 112
- #3 - "The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 110

Examples:

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