What's the font for the Lost logo?
August 15, 2005 12:37 AM   Subscribe

Does anyone know the name of the font used in the logo for the TV series Lost? It's absolutely stunning and I need a copy.
posted by TheDonF to Grab Bag (14 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
You may want to try Identifont.
posted by jeremias at 5:15 AM on August 15, 2005


Response by poster: Thanks, there are a couple of possibilities but it's difficult without getting a decent image of the original - all the ones that I've found are angled strangely or too small to really see any detail.
posted by TheDonF at 6:02 AM on August 15, 2005


I'm pretty sure that it's plain old Helvetica Rounded bold.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:05 AM on August 15, 2005


I don't know the font, but I update a weekly chart on the show, and we have a decent copy of the logo on it. You can see it here.
posted by GaelFC at 9:21 AM on August 15, 2005


Reminds me of Interstate.
posted by wackybrit at 11:51 AM on August 15, 2005


BTW, the logo in the opening sequence is completely different from the logo used in the merchandising and press materials. From the samples, it looks like you want the opening logo.
posted by smackfu at 11:54 AM on August 15, 2005


Lost has some of the most inconsistent typography of any show on television. They've used different fonts in the original ads, the promos, the opening title, the bumpers, and now this logo in GaelFC's MSNBC article, which I've never seen before. None of them do anything for me. The opening title especially bugs me. It looks like Arial or something, and you can see the corners on their low-polygon count models when the letters get close to the screen.
posted by designbot at 11:57 AM on August 15, 2005


It's Futura.
posted by tepidmonkey at 12:37 PM on August 15, 2005


I guess it depends now on what version you're talking about. I'm looking at what ABC is using on their site here.

The best clue is the letter "O".
Based on the ABC link above, you could use this version of ATTriumvirate-Inserat to get you the "Lost" they're using for press and merchandising.

But designbot is right, it's totally inconsistent, I see two totally different versions here and here.
posted by jeremias at 1:19 PM on August 15, 2005


From GaelFC's link, based on the UK showing, it's Interstate-Bold, as used on road signs all over the US. See here.

However, they do seem to be all over the place with the identity.
posted by i_cola at 1:27 PM on August 15, 2005


If you watch the opening credits frame-by-frame, at least if you can find a hi-def version, you can see that the curves on the "O" are actually polygons when the logo starts rotating and swoops towards you. I suspect that they may have raytraced or otherwise rendered the 4 letters in order to facilitate the animation effect they were going for. They may not be 4 letters from any "real" font at all.

Unless you're talking about the logo used in marketing, etc, which others have pointed out is completely different.
posted by rkent at 1:33 PM on August 15, 2005


No, really, the font in the rotating-swooping opening sequence is Futura. Note the short arms in the L and the T, and the circular O. The lower finial on the S may look slightly different, but that could be because of the blurriness or the fact that not all interpretations of Futura are exactly the same.

The logo on MSNBC is definitely Interstate. But the font used on road signs in the U.S. is not (although Interstate is modeled on it). It's called FHWA Series E Modified and is slowly being phased out by a new face called Clearview. See here.

The logo here looks like it could be Franklin Gothic, albeit painfully squashed.
posted by tepidmonkey at 2:05 PM on August 15, 2005


I stand arm-in-counter with tepidmonkey.
posted by mwhybark at 10:35 PM on August 15, 2005


Just a bit of trivia: At the Museum of TV & Radio session on Lost earlier this year, JJ Abrams said the opening titles were something he'd done on his personal Mac as temp titles -- and they wound up being used on the show. That may explain why the title in the opening credits is different from the marketing stuff, though.
posted by whitearrow at 4:30 PM on August 17, 2005


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