Gill Sans Type Specimen Book

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GILL SANS

The Typeface that Moved from Eastern to Northern London

Alex Pera


Table of Contents 1 Eric Gill 2 Typeface Family 3 Letter Characteristics 4 Gill San’s Inspiration 5 Stroke Variation 6 Anatomy 7 LNER Publicity

[Gill Sans Italic 30 pt]


ERIC GILL Arthur Eric Rowton Gill was an English sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Gill was named Royal Designer for Industry, the highest British award for designers, by the Royal Society of Arts. He also became a founder-member for the newly established Faculty of Royal Designs for Industry.

[Big Caslon 12 pt]

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Gill Sans Bold

Gill Sans Light

Gill Sans Regular

The typeface continues to thrive to this day, often being held to bring an artistic or cultural sensibility to an organisation’s corporate style. Monotype themselves use it in their corporate style, and the typeface was prominently used by many public service organisations.

The typeface continues to thrive to this day, often being held to bring an artistic or cultural sensibility to an organisation’s corporate style. Monotype themselves use it in their corporate style, and the typeface was prominently used by many public service organisations.

[Gill Sans Light 14 pt]

[Gill Sans Regular 14 pt]

[Gill Sans Bold 12 pt]

Gill Sans Light Italic

Gill Sans Italic

Gill Sans Bold Italic

The typeface continues to thrive to this day, often being held to bring an artistic or cultural sensibility to an organisation’s corporate style. Monotype themselves use it in their corporate style, and the typeface was prominently used by many public service organisations.

The typeface continues to thrive to this day, often being held to bring an artistic or cultural sensibility to an organisation’s corporate style. Monotype themselves use it in their corporate style, and the typeface was prominently used by many public service organisations.

The typeface continues to thrive to this day, often being held to bring an artistic or cultural sensibility to an organisation’s corporate style. Monotype themselves use it in their corporate style, and the typeface was prominently used by many public service organisations.

[Gill Sans Light Italic 14 pt]

[Gill Sans Italic 14 pt]

[Gill Sans Bold Italic 10 pt]

The typeface continues to thrive to this day, often being held to bring an artistic or cultural sensibility to an organisation’s corporate style. Monotype themselves use it in their corporate style, and the typeface was prominently used by many public service organisations.

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The capital M is based on the proportions of a square with the middle strokes meeting at the center of the square

Unlike realist sans-serif typefaces the lower case is modelled on the lowercase Carolingian script

The italce e is highly callegraphic

[Gill Sans Italic 250 pt, Big Caslon 22 pt]

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The Gill Sans typeface takes inspiration from Edward Johnston’s Johnston typeface for the London Underground, which Gill had worked on while apprenticed to Johnston.

[Big Caslon 29 pt]

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The uppercase of Gill Sans is modelled on the monumental Roman Capitals like those found on the Column of Trajan, and the Caslon and Baskerville typefaces.

[Big Caslon 17 pt, Gill Sans Light, Gill Sans Light Italic, Gill Sans Regular, Gill Sans Italic, Gill Sans Bold, Gill Sans Bold Italic 880 pt ]

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t The “g” is the only letter that deviates from having a simple descender ending in a loop

r

The cross stroke of the lowercase “t” forms a triangle on the left hand side

g

Although Gill Sans is a san serif typeface, there is also a pronounced contrast in the strokes, giving it a serif font touch [Big Caslon 29 pt, Gill Sans Regular 250 pt]

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Gill sans achieved national prominence almost immediately when it was chosen to become the standard typeface for the LNER railway system, soon appearing on every facet of the company’s identity, from locomotive name plates and station signage to restaurant car menus, printed time tables and advertising posters. [Big Caslon 24 pt]

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