Gotham lookbook2 by Tommy Larsen

The font is inspired by some old and iconic signage around the Manhattan area in New York. It has been a written a lot about Gotham on the Internet, where it has come up comparisons to other well-known fonts such as Helvetica. Why has this font become so popular? Is it possible to use it wrong? As it is a very serious font, how far can one go before it loses some of its seriousness? And is it possible to create new typefaces when we use Gotham as a basic?

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INTRODUCTION

One of the most used fonts in the past decade, is arguably Gotham. It was made basically for GQ Magazine in 2000, but has in recent years been used for several other brands such as Coca-Cola, Spotify, Nike and Eurovision to name a few.

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This is how the Gotham typeface usually looks like. And how it is usually been used. Just straight forward, with few or no changes in the type. Why has this typeface been used so much the last decade? A lot of big brands, well known personallity and some of the big films like Obama, Coca-Cola, Grantorino have used this font in their advertising the last decade. But the question is, why have they all ended up using this font? And what happens if we try to do some more experimental stuff to it? Does it still works for the audience?

Lets go back when it all started, back in 2000 when Tobias Frere-Jones got the opportunity to create a new typeface for GQ Magazine.

“To preserve those old pieces of New York that could be wiped out before they’re appreciated. Having grown up here, I was always fond of the ‘old’ New York and its lettering.” (Tobias Frere-Jones, The Morning News, August 2002)

“After collecting material for Gotham, I set myself the task of walking every last block of Manhattan with a camera, and recording anything extant and noteworthy.” (Tobias Frere-Jones, The Morning News, 2002) According to Tobias, the Gotham typeface would never happen, if it were not for GQ and their need for this font. So I guess we all should thanks GQ for one of the best typefaces ever made? “Its not that kind of letter a type designer would make, it’s a kind of letter a engineer would make” (Tobias Frere-Jones, Helvetica Film, 2007)

Tobias captured every single piece of public lettering in some of New Yorks most historical and never changing neighbourhoods. In this way he started to get the right inspiration for the capital letters.

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THE BEGINNIG

The owners of the GQ Magazine wanted a typeface that was new, fresh and masculine, and had a geometric structure. With this message from GQ, Tobias started a journey around in Manhattan to find inspiration to the typeface. He spent hours of walking around in New York looking at old lettering/ signage form historical buildings such as Port Authority Bus Terminal.

According to Tobias himself, it was the lowercase that caused the biggest challenge when making the typeface.

If we look at the various letters such as C where shapes has been cutted, they are cut at a 45 degree angle. This again shows that Tobias worked with very simple geometric rules on this typeface.

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Could this be part of the reason why it has become so popular? That it is built on the basic geometric rules, that it works so well for different purposes?

SIMPLICITY OF THE FONT

We can start by looking at the structure of Gotham. It has clear references to geometric shapes. If we start by look at the letter â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oâ&#x20AC;?, it has a completely circular shape.

I think it is fair to start compare Gotham to the well known typeface Helvetica which has been a popular typeface for the past fifty years. Helvetica was designed by the Swiss type-desinger Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann back in 1957. Helvetica has been used by very well known brands for a very long period of time. However, now I think Gotham has replaced the Helvetica in the usage of a good sans serif typeface. Why? Here is one theory:

Right now it seems that people look at Gotham and think it might be a re-design of Helvetica. What also Frere-Jonas did right, was to create a geometric structured typeface. To use geometric shapes seems to have been a trend for the last decade, which also is an important factor for why Gotham have been so popular lately.

It seems that the Obama campaign made people awere of Gotham as a typface, and that it is a typeface people can trust. One of the things I wanted to shed a light on with this project is the comparison between Gotham and Helvetica. The reason I wanted to take a deeper look into this area, is that (as mention earlier) it seems that Gotham is a modern version of Helvetica in its usage. Both of them are a sans serif font, and they are both very popular in commercial use. The Helvetica have been used a lot in logos and other branding material throughout the last couple of decades.

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This is why i wanted to compare them, to see if it is any similarities in the way the font look and the way the font have been build. What I found out during this experiment was that they are not that similar when you look at each letter. Gotham is a bit wider, or more geometric then the Helvetica. I just took some random letters, which I thought it would be easy to see the different. After doing some rebrand experiment of logos that are using Helvetica, my theory of Gotham being a modern Helvetia really got interesting.

C O M PA R I S O N

Tobias Frere-Jones got some guidelines from GQ Magazine that the typeface had to be designed with a geometric structure, and still be masculine, fresh and new. And with this guidelines from GQ, the typeface become really modern in it expression, and fits the minimalistic trend which is the graphic design world at the moment. I think we all can agree that FrereJones succeeded this mission.

If we take a look at the brands who are using Gotham in their, it is well known worldiwide brands. Coca-Cola, Spotify, Nike, Eurovision and many more. The Obama campaign really made people aware of the Gotham typeface. It was after this campaign all the other brands started to use Gotham in their advertising or branding.

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I wanted to to do little experiment by rebranding well known brands which have used Helvetica in their logo. The reason I wanted to do this is because in my opinion the Gotham font seems to substitute the Helvetica in the branding world. I think Gotham gave the brands a more modern look then what Helvetica give. The results of this experiment is on the right side. Take a look, and make up your own opinion.

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I N T E RV I E W W I T H TO B I AS F R E R E - J O N E S

I r e c e i v e d t h i s p i c t u r e p e r s o n a l l y f r o m To b i a s h i m s e l f .

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He received a BFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992. He joined the faculty of the Yale University School of Art in 1996 and has lectured throughout the United States, Europe and Australia. His work is in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2006,

The Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague (KABK) awarded him the Gerrit Noordzij Prijs, for his contributions to typographic design, writing and education. In 2013 he received the AIGA Medal, in recognition of exceptional achievements in the field of design. (www.frerejones.com) I sent Tobias some questions about his work methods and everything else about his process throughoutwhen designing a typeface The answers I got were really interesting…

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I N T E RV I E W W I T H TO B I AS F R E R E - J O N E S

Over 25 years, Tobias has established himself as one of the world’s leading typeface designers and created some of the world’s most widely used typefaces.

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Have you ever seen Gotham be used completely wrong from what you thought it would be used for? If yes, for what? TFJ: Normally, what irritates me the most is when the type is being distorted to create something that I already took the time to make: squeezing it sideways to make it narrower, when I’ve already drawn a condensed width, or sloping it over when I’ve already made a real italic. Those certainly apply to Gotham, but I felt a different kind of discomfort when conservative political candidates started using it, to ride on the look of Obama’s campaign. For how long period of time did you worked when you made the typeface? TFJ: The development took place in several distinct episodes, with months or years in between. The first part, with the GQ commission, took something like nine months. Did you worked on it continuously, or did you worked on one or more projects at the same time?

Right now, it seems to me that the Gotham typeface is the new Helvetica since it’s been used so much lately by different big brands. Did you ever think it would this popular? TFJ: I try not to predict popularity, and just focus on making the type useable and distinct. But I certainly enjoy seeng a typeface of mine become popular and widespread like Gotham. What letter are you most happy with, and why so? TFJ: I’m particularly fond of the cap ‘G’ and lowercase ‘a’, as they exhibit a lot of Gotham’s personality. It’s also part of how I picked the name “Gotham” in the first place. Ideally, a typeface’s name will show off the best letters of that design. If you look back at the process, is there anything you would do different? TFJ: This one has me stumped. There’s surely something, as every process has a chance to improve. I’ll have to get back to you with this one.

TFJ: Projects are always interleaved. It’s hard to avoid, but it keep my eyes fresh so it’s not such a bad thing. Did your only inspiration come from signage in New York? Or did you look at other typefaces that has been made? TFJ: I decided early on that Gotham’s references should remain outside the history of printing type, to remain consistent with its first example on the Port Authority Bus Terminal lettering.

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According to Tobias, this is not how his favorite letters should look like.

How was it to work with a client as big as GQ? Did they ever have any doubt in your work throughout the process?

You did a rounded and a condensed version of the original font, are you thinking of doing a serif or slab serif version of it?

TFJ: Interchangeability varies by design. Gotham had lots, Surveyor had zero. What kind of program do you use to design the letters?

TFJ: That gets into a wholly different skeletal structure, so I think it would make more sense to start fresh with something that has serifs from the beginning, rather than add them later.

TFJ: I use Robofont and FontLab to create the letters when I am designing a typeface.

What kind of music do you like listen to when you are working?

TFJ: Years before, my best work happened after 10pm. Then I got married and had a child, so now my best work happens whenever I can get an uninterrupted stretch.

TFJ: Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abstract electronic music such as Autechre, Seven Ark, Biotron Shelf, ISAN Quinolone Yellow. But more jazzy things aswell, such as Bonobo for an example. A lot of what I listen to has no lyrics, most of the time I find that too distracting.

When do you work at your best, daytime or nighttime?

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I N T E RV I E W W I T H TO B I AS F R E R E - J O N E S

They were an excellent client -- very enthusiastic about the direction of the project, and willing to give me a free hand in shaping the typeface to meet their specific needs at the magazine.

I am trying to create some typefaces myself. And I often start by creating the O, H and A to have some angles that I can use for the other letters. How do you work when you are starting to create a new font? Do you use some bits from from each letter? For an example; creating the A out of an V?

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