Fontfilter: I'm designing a new business card for myself and I want to appropriate the design of the classic Penguin crime novel. Like this one. Can anyone identify the fonts used in the original? posted by tim_in_oz to media & arts (15 comments total)
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(Heh. That's a great idea, given your line of work!) posted by robcorr at 10:02 PM on June 6, 2007
Thanks people. Much appreciated! posted by tim_in_oz at 10:27 PM on June 6, 2007
Using Metafilter to notify the world that you're pirating typefaces is not a good idea.
And I think you'll find that while Gill Sans was made by Eric Gill after the metal type he designed for Penguin (more "Gill's Sans" than "Gill Sans"), ITC Johnston is actually closer (at least as far as the caps go) to the Penguin cover type. posted by luriete at 11:18 PM on June 6, 2007
ITC Johnston is actually closer (at least as far as the caps go) to the Penguin cover type.
Are you sure about that, luriete? I thought it was undisputed that Gill Sans was the Penguin typeface, but there is an ongoing debate as to whether it is a better or worse typeface than Johnston? See, eg... posted by robcorr at 12:52 AM on June 7, 2007
A quick Google search would seem to indicate you can pick up a non criminal copy of Gill Sans for less than $30. posted by rongorongo at 3:33 AM on June 7, 2007
Or, gill sans MT comes with winders...or at least it's on all my machines. posted by TomMelee at 4:51 AM on June 7, 2007
luriete, I'm missing the part where someone said they were infringing the copyright on typefaces. posted by grouse at 5:30 AM on June 7, 2007 [1 favorite]
Two free hints: spend the money to get the card printed in real old-school two-colour offset. It'll make it look that much more authentic.
Also, space the lettering out. Gill Sans tends to set tight in modern computer typesetting. The lettering on these old covers is metal type, well spaced. posted by zadcat at 7:55 AM on June 7, 2007
ITC Johnston is actually closer (at least as far as the caps go) to the Penguin cover type.
Dude, you need glasses - Look closely at the E as well as the S. It's Gill Sans. posted by twistedonion at 8:44 AM on June 7, 2007
He said he wanted to appropriate the design, not "pirate the typeface." Relax.
Gill Sans is great. It's the quintessential 20th-century British typeface. It's also used by the London Tube, the BBC, and Mute Records (see various mid-'80s Depeche Mode album covers). posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:03 PM on June 7, 2007
Grouse & Twistedonion, the comment was deleted. Before I wrote, someone wrote that they would zip up and email him the font.
The digital version of Gill Sans is not identical to the metal version that Tschichold used at Penguin Books. The caps are slightly different and both the character width and stroke are slightly different. While the lowercase of Johnston differs significantly (and some of the upper case letters are slightly different as well), its measurements and overall color are much closer to the metal type that Gill designed for Penguin than the digital typeface known as "Gill Sans."
Yes, Johnston is more well-known as the Underground font as dpcoffin notes. Gill was very strongly influenced by Johnston's work (as far as his type design goes; his etching and stone work, on the other hand, are 100% original and unlike anything that came before, in my opinion).
I have nothing against appropriating the design, artifice_eternity. As I noted in my first paragraph, though, someone did indeed offer to supply a pirated version of the face, but that comment was deleted. posted by luriete at 1:47 PM on June 7, 2007 [1 favorite]
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posted by tepidmonkey at 8:26 PM on June 6, 2007