Go
otha New York City’s typeface
Every designer has admired the no-nonsense lettering of the American vernacular, those letters of paint, plaster, neon, glass and steel that figure so prominently in the urban landscape. From these humble beginnings comes Gotham, a hard-working typeface for the ages. In 2000, GQ Magazine commissioned American type foundry, Hoefler & Co., to create a signatue sans serif with geometric structure that looked masculine, new, and fresh.
We began with a longbookmarked piece of public lettering on one of the city’s most mundane buildings: the Port Authority Bus Terminal on New York’s Eighth Avenue. With the goal of allowing our typeface to exhibit the mathematical reasoning of a draftsman, rather than the instincts of a typeface designer, we allowed Gotham
to escape the grid wherever necessary, giving the design an affability usually missing from geometric faces. Unlike the signage upon which it was based, Gotham includes a lowercase, an italic, a full range of weights, and an extended range of widths: a Narrow, an Extra Narrow, and a Condensed.
“geometric structure”
“masculine, new, & fresh”
tobias frerejones
high ascenders
Geometric no spur
symmetrical letterforms
high x-height
similar letterforms
strong & architectural letterforms
This is Gotham. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890 ! @ # $%^&*( ); / ?
altered letterforms
18 pt.
This is book italic. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj
This is ultra italic. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890 16 pt.
20 pt.
This is bla Aa Bb Cc Gg Hh Ii Jj Nn Oo Pp Tt Uu Vv Yy Zz 1234
This is thin. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
Th Hh Tt 32 pt.
This is extra li Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Nn Oo Pp Qq Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Yy Zz 12345678 24 pt.
This is light italic. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890 18 pt.
his is black. Aa Bb c Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii
This is Aa Bb Ff Gg H Ll Mm Qq Rr Vv W
This is bold italic. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
14 pt.
ight. e Ff Mm Rr w Xx 890
This is bold. Aa Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii J Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ww Xx Yy Zz 1 18 pt.
This is thin italic. Aa Bb C Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt U Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567 18 pt.
24 pt.
This is extra light italic. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890 14 pt.
This is ultra. A Cc Dd Ee Ff G Ii Jj Kk Ll M Oo Pp Qq Rr Uu Vv Ww X Zz 123456
22 pt.
s medium. b Cc Dd Ee Hh Ii Jj Kk Nn Oo Pp r Ss Tt Uu Ww Xx Yy
This is book. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
This is medium italic. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp
his is light. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg h Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
ABOVE
Gentlemen’s Quarterly logo RIGHT
usage of Gotham
acknowledgements http://www.typography.com/fonts/gotham/overview/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/fontblog/