Marcin Wichary presents history of the ubiquitous font used on signage, machinery, and military equipment with its roots in the 19th century.
I had never even considered fonts being something to geek out over but this article has absolutely opened my eyes and now I’m so on board
I’m sure there’s a lot of good jokes in there going right over my head
The jokes really aren’t that subtle.
Alright yeah I got that one!
Congrats on your new love!
That was a wonderful ride.
TL;DR: In the late 1800’s, a need for machine-assisted engraving developed. A font was created in tandem with an engraving machine. Over the next hundred years, a huge portion of engraving machines came with something related to this font by default.
It’s the ancestor of many technical drawing fonts because early lettering guides were made using these engravers. It’s the basis for many classic keyboard caps and typewriter keys. It’s on every nametag from the 1930s to 1990s. But most of all, if you wanted a durable sign and weren’t a graphic designer, it’s what you got for most of the last century.
This was a beautiful article I feel I won’t be able to unsee the font now and the photos were great
This was better than the documentary Helvetica!
That was an extremely thorough article. Consider me a newly minted Gorton aficionado. Great content!
