Gill Sans
Gill Sans
Eric Gill, 1928
Sans-serif · Britain, mid-century. Railways, the BBC, Penguin paperbacks.
Often called the Helvetica of England, though it is a humanist sans rather than a neo-grotesque and reads quite differently. It was based on Johnston, Gill having worked with Edward Johnston on the Underground alphabet. Gill's posthumously published diaries revealed serious abuse, which is a live problem for institutions still using the typeface and one several have addressed by changing it.
How to tell it apart
| Mistaken for | Which letters to check |
|---|---|
| Johnston | Round tittles on Gill Sans, diamond ones on Johnston. |
The facts
- Designed by
- Eric Gill
- Released
- 1928
- Classification
- Sans-serif
- What it signals now
- Britain, mid-century. Railways, the BBC, Penguin paperbacks.
Where you have seen it
- Penguin Books covers
- The BBC's identity for decades
- British Railways signage
Other typefaces from the 1920s
| Typeface | Year | Designer | What it signals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper Black | 1922 | Oswald Bruce Cooper | The 1970s, unmistakably. Soft, heavy, friendly, slightly stoned. |
| Futura | 1927 | Paul Renner | Bauhaus modernism, and then anything wanting to look confident and geometric. |
This page describes the typeface rather than showing it. Displaying a specimen requires a licensed font file and almost none of these may be redistributed, so the descriptions name the letters to look at instead.
Common questions
- Who designed Gill Sans?
- Eric Gill, in 1928.
- What is Gill Sans used for?
- Britain, mid-century. Railways, the BBC, Penguin paperbacks. You will have seen it on Penguin Books covers, The BBC's identity for decades, British Railways signage.
- What is the difference between Gill Sans and Johnston?
- Round tittles on Gill Sans, diamond ones on Johnston.
Related pages
- Johnston Routinely mistaken for this one
- Typefaces from the 1920s 3 here
- Akzidenz-Grotesk H. Berthold AG, 1896
- Franklin Gothic Morris Fuller Benton, 1902
- Johnston Edward Johnston, 1916
- Futura Paul Renner, 1927
- Helvetica Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, 1957
- Univers Adrian Frutiger, 1957
- Optima Hermann Zapf, 1958
- Eurostile Aldo Novarese, 1962
Sources
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place