type of the decade
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Every designer has admired the no-nonsense lettering of the American vernacular, those letters of paint, plaster, neon, glass and steel that figure so prominently in the urban landscape. From these humble beginnings comes Gotham, a hard-working typeface for the ages.
Gotham celebrates the attractive and unassuming lettering of the city. Public spaces are teeming with handmade sans serifs that share the same underlying structure, an engineer's idea of "basic lettering" that transcends both the characteristics of their materials and the mannerisms of their craftsmen. These are the cast bronze numbers outside office buildings that speak with authority, and the engravings on cornerstones whose neutral and equable style defies the passage of time. They're the matter-of-fact neon signs that announce liquor stores and pharmacies, and the proprietors' names painted majestically on the sides of trucks. These letters are straightforward and non-negotiable, yet possessed of great personality, and always expertly made. And although designers have lived with them for half a century, they remarkably went unrevived until 2000, when Hoefler & Frere-Jones introduced Gotham.
Gotham is that rarest of designs, the new typeface that somehow feels familiar. From the lettering that inspired it, Gotham inherited an honest tone that's assertive but never imposing, friendly but never folksy, confident but never aloof. The inclusion of so many original ingredients — a lowercase, italics, and a comprehensive range of weights — enhances these forms' plainspokenness with a welcome sophistication, and brings a broad range of expressive voices to the Gotham family.