AOL logo font?

November 23, 2009 2:09 PM

What font is the AOL logo?

Images here, for reference.

posted by nostrich to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Response by poster: what font is the new AOL logo, I should have said.
posted by nostrich at 2:09 PM on November 23, 2009

Best answer: Looks like Futura heavy to me.
posted by wolfr at 2:11 PM on November 23, 2009

Yep: Futura Heavy, or a very close variant.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:51 PM on November 23, 2009

Logo fonts are almost never 'pure' for copyright and identity reasons (harder to rip-off means it's easier to spot counterfeits.) They're almost always custom-made outlines, though they are often based on a common font to begin with. That said, those are three of the simplest geometric letters there are, so you could definitely get close enough with Futura no matter what.

That's a drop-dead ugly new logo treatment, wow. Someone let the creative guys have too much cocaine. Of course, Futura makes good sense there, since it is an ugly, ugly typeface to begin with.
posted by rokusan at 3:49 PM on November 23, 2009

Futura Heavy. The key difference visible in the "A" is the height of the crossbar and the not-quite-parallel stems (if you put straightedges against them they converge at about double the height of the letter itself).
posted by dhartung at 4:19 PM on November 23, 2009

It's not Futura. That whole family is characterized by very small x-heights, such that the caps-height letters tower over the shorter ones. The "o" in that logo looks maybe 2/3 the height of the "l". In Futura, it looks less than half as tall. Other than that, very close.
posted by eggplantplacebo at 8:23 PM on November 23, 2009

Call me crazy, but the o and l look like they were transplanted from Gotham – the proportions look just so. and now that I think the A and . are in a different typeface (some version of Futura Bold / Heavy), I can't un-think it and it looks like the whole thing is an unholy cobbled-together monstrosity. Plus, it looks like it should be pronounced aye-'ole.

Also, the counter at aoi.com is at 384,522 since 1998. Watch it skyrocket.

You asked about fonts, this is all related.
posted by shemko at 10:08 PM on November 23, 2009

One of the Helvetica Bold weights would work based on the x-height, but Helvetica's periods are square. Futura Heavy would work (Futura Heavy 'A' has a flat top), except that Futura Heavy's 'o' isn't perfectly round. Gill Sans Bold features a flat top capital 'A,' the appropriate x-height, a round period, and an 'o' that's round. But as rokusan says, it's likely not an off-the-shelf font.
posted by spacely_sprocket at 9:43 AM on November 24, 2009