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THE SIGN BLOG - FONT-TASTIC! PART 1: SANS SERIF

12/7/2013

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What’s your favourite sans serif font(s) for sign making?


I recently asked this very question to my connections and fellow International Sign Association group members on LinkedIn...

"What’s your favourite sans serif font(s) for sign making?"
Thanks to all the following friends for their valuable contributions:

Aaron Kirkpatrick - Helvetica Neue Condensed, Futura;
Lisa Havniear - Futura, Helvetica, Frutiger;
Vernit Holder - Impact, Frutiger, Arial, Helvetica, Gill Sans;
Joe Paterson - Optima, Microgramma;
Tomas Pukalski - DIN 1451 Mittelschrift;
Izzie Enwall - Arial, Futura, Impact, Helvetica;
Steve Bowen - Arial Black, Impact, Kabel Black, Machine BT;
Joani Theodore - Helvetica, Impact, Futura, Transport;
Dereck D Cruz - Arial Black, Impact;
Daniel Royer - Trade Gothic;
Jeffrey Thomas - Helvetica;
Marian S - Frutiger.

In summary:

Helvetica came out top with 6 votes. Helvetica is my personal favourite sans serif font, too.

Closely behind came Impact with 5 votes - though in fairness Impact and Helvetica typically perform quite different functions in signage design.

Following with 4 votes came Arial and Futura.

Frutiger received 3 votes, and is my personal 3rd favourite sans serif font.

It very much comes down to personal taste, of course, but here are my personal favourites:

1. Helvetica: according to Wikipedia, Helvetica was designed to be "a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage."  In my opinion, a font specifically designed for signage simply has to rate highly for signage design!;

2. Gill Sans: A font created by Englishman Eric Gill in 1926. This font could well have been my personal favourite, but I don't like the font's number '1', which looks like an 'l'. And because of this it loses out to Helvetica for me;

3. Frutiger: Like Helvetica, Frutiger has Swiss origins.  I appreciate the font's versatility;

4. Impact: A more recent creation (1965), this font is arguably 'king of the compacts'!;

5. News Gothic: Created in 1908, I chose this font for no other reason that I like it!  I also like Franklin Gothic, and there are some similarities between the two fonts.  But since I had to choose one for the Number 5 slot, a toss of the coin fell to News Gothic;

So, there you have it.  What’s your favourite sans serif font(s) for sign making?  I look forward to discussing your choices.

Darrel (connect with me on LinkedIn)














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