Monday 11 November 2013

Typeface Analysis


Gotham is a sans serif, geometric typeface designed by Hoefler and Frere-Jones type foundry in 2000. The typeface came about due to a brief set by GQ magazine to create a custom font for use in their magazine that was 'masculine and fresh.'  Since this brief the typeface has been used in a variety of different places, companies such as coca cola have used Gotham on their packaging and a number of corporate logos now use this very recent typeface. Gotham was probably most famously used in Barrack Obamas presidential campaign. The font was used not only on Shepard Fairey's famous propoganda posters but throughout the campaign on numerous pieces of advertising.



For a typeface that is so current and looks fairly modern, Gotham has its roots in early twentieth century signage. At this time signage was often left to the engineer or draftsmen that designed the building itself. Typefaces were designed solely for their legibility alone rather than following any sort of stylistic agenda. Frere-Jones claims that when designing Gotham he used the mathematical reasoning of a draftsman and often ignored his instincts as a type designer. He allowed gotham to break the grid which gives Gotham an affability that we do not see in other geometric sans serifs. The typeface is much friendlier than any of its Swiss, French or German counterparts and this is one of the things that I like about it so much. The type is still readable and legible, aesthetically pleasing without being decorative or obvious in any way.

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