 | |
| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Grotesque |
| Designer(s) | Morris Fuller Benton |
| Foundry | American Type Founders |
| Date created | 1908 |
News Gothic is a sans-serif typeface designed by Morris Fuller Benton, and was released in 1908 by his employer American Type Founders (ATF).[1] The typeface is similar in proportion and structure to Franklin Gothic, also designed by Benton, but lighter.
News Gothic, like other Benton sans serif typefaces, follows the grotesque model, resembling serif text faces of the period, with a double-storey lower-case 'a' and 'g'. Also distinctive are the blunt terminus at the apex of the lowercase 't', and the location of the tail of the uppercase 'Q' completely outside the bowl. The letter forms are compact, and descenders are shallow. The typeface differs from other grotesque sans-serifs in its rather light weight and open letterforms, contributing to a less severe, humanist tone of voice.
For much of the twentieth century, News Gothic was used in newspaper and magazine publishing with copies available on Monotype and Intertype machines for hot metal typesetting. Both companies added additional weights to the family.[2] For use in headlines, it was designed with condensed and extra-condensed styles.
'Gothic' was an early twentieth century term for sans-serifs, found mostly in the United States and Canada. It was also used in the UK, along with 'grotesque'. In Germany the term 'Grotesk' was used.
- ^ Rollins, Carl Purington (1947). American Type Designers and their Work. p. 7. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ McGrew, Mac (1993). American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century (Seconde édition révisée. ed.). New Castle: Oak Knoll Press. pp. 230–1. ISBN 0-938768-39-5.