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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Typeface Review: "Bodoni"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Bodoni is a modern serif typeface, with high contrast between thin and thick stroke weights, and a slightly condensed shape. It was based on the work of John Baskerville, but has taken his ideas to a more extreme conclusion. There are a few variations on Bodoni, some with more transitional shapes (including ITC Bodoni and Bodoni Old Face), and some more modern.

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"Bodoni was first designed by Giambattista Bodoni in 1798. In addition to the influence from Baskerville, Bodoni was also influenced heavily by the work of Pierre Simon Fournier and Firmin Didot." (Source #1)

What Type of Font It Is: Didone; "This category of types, also known as Modern, is based upon the typefaces produced in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Italy by Giambattista Bodoni (1740 - 1813) and in France by Firmin Didot (1764 - 1836).

"Didones are most commonly used for display and semi-display purposes, where the accentuated contrasts of stroke width create dynamic and elegant graphic effects. While these characteristics are moderated in the smaller sizes to allow for their use in text setting, the extremes of contrast impair readability, making them a less practical choice where large amounts of copy are to be set." (Source #2)

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How You Can Design With It: "Bodoni, for the most part, is best suited to larger font sizes. Because of the extreme variation between thin and thick strokes, it can degrade at small sizes and become illegible (specifically, it creates an effect known as “dazzle”). There are some typeface variations though, that are optimized for use at smaller sizes (including Bodoni Old Face at 9 points, ITC Bodoni 12 at 12 points, and ITC Bodoni 7 at 7 points).

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"Bodoni is well-suited for use in modern designs where a serif typeface is desired. It’s a great serif for use in headlines and subheads, though some variations can be used for body copy, too. Some of its more recognizable uses can be found in the logo for grunge band Nirvana, and on the Mamma Mia! posters." (Source #1)

"Like most Didones, it can be effective in the setting of extended text, provided the printing and paper is of sufficient quality to ensure that the delicate hairlines and high contrasts are retained. All weights and widths of the Bodoni family can be used to dramatic effect as display faces." (Source #3)

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Where You Can Get It: You can download free versions of the font at FontSpace, UrbanFonts, CoolText, or DaFont. Or you can purchase the font at either MyFonts. There is also a newer version created by Heinrich Jost in 1926 called "Bauer Bodoni", which is slightly cheaper to purchase on websites, MyFonts and Linotype. (Source #3)

Descriptive Terms for It: Classic, Didone, display, large blocks of text, logo, logo design, logos, modern, old, and serif.

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. 94
- #3 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 96

Examples:

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Typeface Review: "Warnock"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: Designed by Robert Slimbach and published in 2000 by Adobe. As part of the Adobe Originals type composition family, it was named after John Warnock, "the co-founder of Adobe Systems, whose visionary spirit has led to major advances in desktop publishing and graphic arts software.

"A full-featured, state-of-the-art OpenType family - with Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek character sets in a variety of weights and optical size ranges-Warnock Pro is a classic yet contemporary composition family that performs a wide variety of typographic tasks with elegance." (Source #1)

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What Type of Font It Is: Transitional; "Characterized by triangulated serifs and a lively angularity, Warnock is a Transitional with a suggestion of calligraphic form, particularly in the swash letters that form part of a very extended type family." (Source #2)

How You Can Design With It: "Transitionals are, as a general rule, well suited to the setting of large bodies of text, as well as revealing considerable elegance of individual form when used for display purposes.... The italic fonts of Transitional typefaces were designed as an integral part of the face rather than as independent faces, and as a consequence reveal far greater affinity of form with the roman letters, while varying quite widely in style. They are better suited to use for emphasis or differentiation within roman text than the italics of Garalde or Humanist faces." (Source #3)

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Where You Can Get It: You can purchase the font at Fonts.com, MyFonts, Linotype, Typedia, Veer, FontShop, and Adobe Systems Inc.  FontPalace has a free download of Warnock Pro-Bold available.

Descriptive Terms for It: Classic, display, elegant, large blocks of text, large bodies of text, serif, Transitional, and whole family.

Extra: There's even an open letter, penned by Andrei Michael Herasimchuk of Design By Fire, to JohnWarnock to make his namesake a part of the public domain, as well as other typefaces such as Adobe Caslon Pro, Adobe Jenson Pro, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Gill Sans, Helvetica Neue, and Univers.

Sources:
- #1 - http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/warnock/
- #2 - "The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 91
- #3 - "The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 84

Examples:

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Typeface Review: "Rockwell"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Rockwell is a slab serif, with no real variation in stroke weight. It was designed in-house at Monotype in 1934, supervised by Frank Hinman Pierpont. It’s a geometric typeface, with upper- and lowercase 'O' more of a circle than an ellipse. The serif at the apex of the uppercase 'A' is a distinctive feature of Rockwell that sets it apart from many other serif type faces." (Source #1)

What Type of Font It Is: Slab Serif; "At their best, Slab Serifs are both robust and colorful, with the serifs providing a strong continuity of line. The historic Slab Serifs are generally most effective in the heavier weights.... the substantial serifs and consistent stroke widths retain their form when printed upon rough or absorbent papers or at low digital resolutions. They also survive reversal better than any other serif form, and are excellent for display and semi-display contexts. They were widely used in publishing, packaging, and art/editorial design in the late 1950s and early 1960s." (Source #2)

"Rockwell is a largely geometric face with a well-defined slab serif and is available in four weights. Rockwell has a fairly high x-height and noticeably short descenders. The italic is a somewhat undeveloped oblique form of the roman." (Source #3)

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How You Can Design With It: "The geometric forms of Rockwell make it more similar to sans-serif typefaces, making it a good choice for combining with geometric sans serifs.

"Rockwell is best-suited for use as a display typeface due to its thick, monoweighted strokes." (Source #1)

Where You Can Get It: You can buy it at Fonts.com, or you can purchase all the complete pack from Monotype Design Studio.

Descriptive Terms for It: Display, headlines, poster design, Slab serif, and serif.

Bonus: Here is a very well constructed video describing "Rockwell". Enjoy!

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. 102
- #3 - The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type" by Will Hill, 2nd Edition, p. 105

Examples:

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Typeface Review: "Avenir"

What It Looks Like:

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It's History: "Avenir is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1988 by Adrian Frutiger. The name, Avenir, means “future” in French. It was designed to be a more humanistic version of traditional geometric typefaces like Futura. Upon release, it was available in three weights, using Frutiger’s two-digit weight and width naming convention: 45 (book) /46 (oblique), 55 (text) /56 (oblique), and 75 (bold) /76 (oblique). Three more weights were later added.

"Avenir is a relatively new typeface, but it’s become widely used. LG uses it for the buttons on most of their cell phones. BBC Two uses Avenir in its logo and identity. Dwell magazine started using it in 2007, and the upcoming J.J. Abrams film Super 8 also uses it for titles." (Source #1)

What Type of Font It Is: Geometric; "Geometric typefaces reflect the idea that type can be reduced to simple geometric units and cleansed of all historical associations. They are characteristic of the spirit of modernism that formed the dominant design ideology in Europe from the 1930s through the 1950s.

"Geometrics are, above all, the expression of an idea, and as such carry a set of associative values fitting them better for display and semi-display use." (Source #2)

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How You Can Design With It: "A balanced and restrained Geometric with a Humanist sensitivity in many of its letterforms, Avenir requires fairly loose letter spacing." (Source #2)

"Avenir’s greatest strengths are its simplicity and balance. It bridges the gap between geometric and humanist sans-serifs, making it a versatile, modern choice. Avenir is suitable for both headline and body copy. Improvements in hinting have made it better for on-screen viewing at smaller sizes." (Source #1)

Where You Can Get It: You can download a version for free using FontPalace, or you could buy a version of it from Fonts.com. There are also other versions that are like it and for free download:

- http://www.dafont.com/new-cicle.font?nb_ppp=50&text=Avenir

- http://www.dafont.com/surrounding.font?nb_ppp=50&text=Avenir

- http://www.dafont.com/florencesans.font?nb_ppp=50&text=Avenir

- http://www.dafont.com/lane.font?nb_ppp=50&text=Avenir

- http://www.dafont.com/siple.font?nb_ppp=50&text=Avenir

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Descriptive Terms for It: Body copy, display, Geometric, headings, legible, modern, sans serif, simple, sub-headings, and versatile.

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. 134 and 141.

Examples:

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It isn't exactly like "Avenir", but it is like it and it is called "GatsbyFLF".
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