Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype in 1928. It is based on Edward Johnston's 1916 "Underground Alphabet", the corporate typeface of London Underground.

As a young artist, Gill had assisted Johnston in its early development stages. In 1926, Douglas Cleverdon, a young printer-publisher, opened a bookshop in Bristol, and Gill painted a fascia for the shop for him using sans-serif capitals. In addition, Gill sketched an alphabet for Cleverdon as a guide for him to use for future notices and announcements. By this time, Gill had become a prominent stonemason, artist and creator of lettering in his own right, and had begun to work on creating typeface designs.

Gill was commissioned to develop his alphabet into a full type family by his friend Stanley Morison, an influential Monotype executive and historian of printing. Morison hoped that it could be Monotype's competitor to a wave of German sans-serif families in a new "geometric" style, which included Erbar, Futura and Kabel, all of which had been launched to considerable attention in Germany during the late 1920s. Gill Sans was initially released as a set of titling capitals that was quickly followed by a lower-case. Gill's aim was to blend the influences of Johnston, classic serif typefaces and Roman inscriptions to create a design that looked both cleanly modern and classical at the same time. Because Gill Sans was designed before the practice of setting documents entirely in sans-serif text became common, its standard weight is noticeably bolder than most modern body text fonts.

Gill Sans was an immediate success; a year after its release, the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) chose the typeface for all its posters, timetables and publicity material. British Railways chose Gill Sans as the basis for its standard lettering when the Big Four railway companies were nationalised in 1948. Gill Sans also soon became used on the deliberately simple modernist covers of Penguin Books, and was sold up to very large font sizes, which were often used in British posters and notices of the period. Gill Sans was one of the dominant typefaces in British printing in the years after its release, and remains extremely popular. It has been described as "the British Helvetica" because of its lasting popularity in British design. Gill Sans has influenced many other typefaces and helped to define a genre of sans-serif, known as the humanist style.

Monotype rapidly expanded the original regular or medium weight into a large family of styles, which it continues to sell. A basic set is included with some Microsoft software and macOS fonts.

Characteristics

thumb|Gill Sans compared to other sans-serifs of the period. Gill Sans does not use the single-storey "g" or "a" used by many sans-serifs and is less monoline than Johnston. Its structure is influenced by traditional serif fonts such as Caslon rather than being strongly based on straight lines and circles as Futura is.

The proportions of Gill Sans stem from monumental Roman capitals in the uppercase, and traditional "old-style" serif letters in the lower-case. This gives it a very different style compared to geometric sans-serifs based on simple squares and circles, like Futura, or grotesque or "industrial" designs influenced by nineteenth-century lettering styles, like Akzidenz-Grotesk, Helvetica and Univers. For example, the "C" and "a" have a much less "folded up" structure compared to grotesque sans-serifs, with wider apertures. The "a" and "g" in the roman or regular style are "double-storey" designs, rather than the "single-storey" forms used in handwriting and blackletter often found in grotesque and especially geometric sans-serifs.

thumb|left|A drawing and photographed carving by Gill of the "Trajan" capitals on [[Trajan's Column in Rome, a model for the capitals of Gill Sans and Johnson. Respected by Arts and Crafts artisans as among the best ever drawn, many signs and lettering projects created with an intentionally artistic design are based on them.]]

The uppercase of Gill Sans is partly modelled on Roman capitals, such as those found on Trajan's Column in Rome, with considerable variation in width. These had become a standard for inscriptional lettering in Britain at the time: Gill's teacher Edward Johnston had written that "the Roman capitals have held the supreme place among letters for readableness and beauty. They are the best forms for the grandest and most important inscriptions."

While Gill Sans is not based on purely geometric principles to the extent of the geometric sans-serifs that had preceded it, some aspects of Gill Sans do have a geometric feel. The J descends below the baseline, the "O" is an almost perfect circle, and the capital "M" is based on the proportions of a square with the middle strokes meeting at the centre; this was not inspired by Roman carving, but is very similar to Johnston. The lower-case "a" also narrows strikingly towards the top of its loop, which is common in serif designs but rarer in sans-serifs.

Following the traditional serif model, the italic has different letterforms from the roman, where many sans-serifs simply slant the letters in what is called an oblique style. This is clearest in the "a", which becomes a "single storey" design similar to handwriting, and the lower-case "p", which has a calligraphic tail on the left reminiscent of italics, such as those cut by William Caslon in the eighteenth century. Morison ultimately abandoned the idea and ruefully noted that Times New Roman had an italic that owed "more to Didot than dogma." Like most serif fonts, several weights and releases of Gill Sans use ligatures to allow its expansive letter "f" to join up with or avoid colliding with following letters. Digital-period Monotype designer Dan Rhatigan, author of an article on Gill Sans's development after Gill's death, said that "Gill Sans grew organically ... [it] takes a very 'asystematic' approach to type. Very characteristic of when it was designed and of when it was used." At this time, the idea that sans-serif typefaces should form a consistent family, with glyph shapes as consistent as possible between all weights and sizes, had not fully developed; it was normal for families to vary as seemed appropriate for their weight until developments such as the groundbreaking release of Univers in 1957.

In the light weights, the slanting cut at top left of the regular "t" is replaced with two separate strokes. From the bold weight upwards, Gill Sans has an extremely eccentric design of "i" and "j", with the dots smaller than their parent letter's stroke.

Development

thumb|An early version of [[Johnston (typeface)|Johnston on a London Underground metal sign. Johnston's design was rendered variably on some older signs; this uses a condensed "R" and four-terminal "W".]]

thumb|left|The ultra-bold sans-serifs of the [[Vincent Figgins|Figgins foundry. Gill and Johnston sought to create sans-serif designs that were modern and not as bold as these. Gill argued in his Essay on Typography that such closed-up forms were counterproductively bold and less legible than lighter fonts of normal proportions. Gill wrote that "it was as a consequence of seeing these letters" that Morison commissioned him to develop a sans-serif family. Gill's first draft proposed many slanting cuts on the ends of ascenders and descenders (resembling Johnston less than the released version), the latter of which were quite long.

Early art for the italic also looked very different, with less of a slope, very long descenders, and swash capitals.

thumb|alt=Comparison between Gill Sans and Johnston|Johnston (upper) and Gill Sans (lower), showing some of the most distinctive differences

In the regular or roman style of Gill Sans, some letters were simplified from Johnston, with diamond dots becoming round (rectangles in the later light weight) and the lower-case "L" becoming a simple line. However, the "a" became more complex, with a curving tail in most versions and sizes. In addition, the design was simply refined in general, such as by making the horizontals slightly narrower than verticals so that they would not appear unbalanced, a standard technique in font design which Johnston had not used.

thumb|left|1940s notes from Monotype's records discuss the different drawings used for the bdpq characters

Particular areas of thought during the design process were the "a" (several versions and sizes in the hot metal era had a straight tail, like Johnston's, or a mildly curving tail), "b", "d", "p" and "q", where some versions (and sizes, since the same weight would not be identical at every size) had stroke ends visible and others did not.

The titling capitals of Gill Sans were first unveiled at a printing conference in 1928; it was also shown in a specimen issued in the Fleuron magazine, edited by Morison. Sans-serifs were still regarded as vulgar and commercial by purists in this period. Johnston's pupil Graily Hewitt privately commented that: <blockquote>In Johnston I have lost confidence. Despite all he did for us&nbsp;... he has undone too much by forsaking his standard of the Roman alphabet, giving the world, without safeguard or explanation, his block letters which disfigure our modern life. His prestige has obscured their vulgarity and commercialism. The diagrams were then used as a plan for machining metal punches by pantograph to stamp matrices, which would be loaded into a casting machine to cast type. It was Monotype's standard practice at the time to first engrave a limited number of characters and print proofs (some of which survive) from them to test overall balance of colour and spacing on the page, before completing the remaining characters.

Despite the popularity of Gill Sans, some reviews were critical. Robert Harling, who knew Gill, wrote in his 1976 anthology examining Gill's lettering that the density of the basic weight made it unsuitable for extended passages of text, printing a passage with it as a demonstration. William Addison Dwiggins described it and Futura as "fine in the capitals and bum in the lower-case" while proposing to create Metro, a more individualistic competitor, for Linotype around 1929. Modern writers, including Stephen Coles and Ben Archer, have criticised it for failing to improve on Johnston and for unevenness of colour, especially in the bolder weights.

Gill broached the topic of the similarity with Johnston in a variety of ways in his work and writings, writing to Johnston in 1933 to apologise for the typeface bearing his name and describing Johnston's work as being important and seminal. However, in his Essay on Typography, he proposed that his version was "perhaps an improvement" and more "fool-proof" than Johnston's. Frank Pick, the Underground Electric Railways Company managing director who commissioned Johnston's typeface, privately believed Gill Sans to be "a rather close copy" of Johnston's work. This made it a popular choice for posters. Gill's biographer Malcolm Yorke described it as "the essence of clarity for public notices".

Versions of Gill Sans were created in a wide range of styles, such as condensed and shadowed weights. Several shadowed designs were released, including a capitals-only regular shadowed design and a light-shadowed version with deep relief shadows. In the metal type era, a "cameo ruled" design that placed white letters in boxes or against a stippled black background was available. The shadowed weights were intended to be used together with the regular, printing in different colours, to achieve a simple multicolour effect. Some of the decorative versions may predominantly have been designed by the Monotype office, with Gill examining, critiquing and approving the designs sent to him by post. The long series of extensions, redrawings and conversions into new formats of one of Monotype's most important assets (extending long beyond Gill's death) has left Gill Sans with a great range of alternative designs and releases.

Gill Kayo

thumb|left|Gill's drawings of Gill Kayo. Its working title "Sans Double Elefans" is visible at bottom left, and his "EG" signature at bottom right.

In 1936, Gill and Monotype released Gill Kayo, an extremely bold sans-serif that took its name from "KO", or knockout, implying its aggressive build. It has often been branded as Gill Sans Ultra Bold, even though many of its letters vary considerably from the original Gill Sans. Harling reviewed it as "dismal" and sarcastically commented that "typographical historians of 2000AD (which isn't, after all, so very far away) will find this odd outburst in Mr Gill's career, and will spend much time in attempting to track down this sad psychological state of his during 1936." Forty years later, he described it as "the most horrendous and blackguardly of these display exploitations".

The boldest weights of Gill Sans, including Kayo, have been particularly criticised for design issues such as the eccentric design of the dots on the "i" and "j", and for their extreme boldness Gill argued in his Essay on Typography that the nineteenth-century tendency to make sans-serif typefaces attention-grabbingly bold was self-defeating, since the result was compromised legibility. In the closing paragraph, he ruefully noted his contribution to the genre: <blockquote>There are now about as many different varieties of letters as there are different kinds of fools. I myself am responsible for designing five different sorts of sans-serif letters – each one thicker and fatter than the last because each advertisement has to try and shout down its neighbours.</blockquote>

Alternative characters

thumb|Alternative characters in Gill Sans Nova, most or all based on those offered in the metal type era In the standard designs for Gill Sans, the numeral "1", upper-case "i" and lower-case "L" are all a simple vertical line, so an alternative "1" with a serif was sold for number-heavy situations where this could otherwise cause confusion, such as on price-lists After Gill's death, Monotype created versions for the [[Greek alphabet|Greek and Cyrillic alphabets. Monotype also added additional features not found in the metal type, notably text figures and small capitals. Similar to Hans Bohn's Orplid face of a few years earlier.

  • Gill Sans Bold Titling (1931, series 317)
  • Gill Sans Extra Bold (1931, series 321)
  • Gill Sans Light (1931, series 362)
  • Gill Sans Shadow (1932, series 338)
  • Gill Sans Shadow No. 2 (1936, series 408) Gill Sans thus particularly achieved worldwide popularity after the close of the metal type era and in the phototypesetting and digital era, when it became a system font on Macintosh computers and Microsoft Office. One use of Gill's work in the United States in this period, however, was a custom wordmark and logo made by Gill in 1930 for Poetry magazine, based on Gill Sans. Its editor Harriet Monroe had seen Gill's work in London.

thumb|Signage at the [[BBC Northern Ireland|BBC Broadcasting House, Belfast, using Gill Sans. The BBC logo shown here was used from 1997 until 2021.]]

In 1997, the BBC adopted the typeface as its corporate typeface for many but not all purposes, including on its logo. Explaining the change, designer Martin Lambie-Nairn said that "by choosing a typeface that has stood the test of time, we avoid the trap of going down a modish route that might look outdated in several years' time". This was not Gill's only association with the BBC, as he had designed sculptures and other artwork that are on display at the broadcaster's London headquarters, Broadcasting House. In 2017, the BBC began to phase out Gill Sans in favour of "Reith" (named after its first general manager John Reith), a proprietary corporate font family designed to be more legible on mobile devices, and did not require licensing for continued use. The font was adopted by the BBC's corporate logo in 2021.

The Wikimedia Commons logo uses the Gill Sans font for its wordmark.

thumb|Save the Children's logo before the 2022 change

Until 2022, the charity Save the Children featured Gill Sans in its logo and branding. Following increased publicity of designer Eric Gill's sexual abuse of his children and others, the charity rebranded, saying that it was "moving away from using the Gill Sans font."

Similar fonts

Early competitors

thumb|Lettering on an [[Eastern Region of British Railways sign. While the lettering is clearly based on Gill Sans, some letters such as the R are very different.]]

In 1930, the Sheffield type foundry Stephenson Blake released Granby, a commercial competitor influenced by Gill Sans, Johnston and Futura. It was a large family with condensed and inline styles, and a diamond-dot design like Johnston. It also included a "Granby Elephant" weight influenced by Gill Kayo.

Another similar but more eccentric design was created by Johnston's student Harold Curwen for the use of his family company, the Curwen Press of Plaistow. Named "Curwen Sans" or "Curwen Modern", it has many similarities to Johnston as well, and was occasionally used by London Transport in work printed by the Curwen Press. Curwen described it as based on his time studying with Johnston in the 1900s, although it was not cut into metal until 1928, around the same time as Gill Sans was released, with a lower-case similar to that of Kabel.

Several intended Gill Sans competitors were developed during the period of its popularity, but ultimately did not see mass release. Jan Tschichold, who would later make extensive use of Gill Sans while designing books for Penguin, created a similar design for an early phototypesetting machine, which was at the time seldom used but also since digitised.

thumb|Enamel sign at [[Lowestoft railway station|Lowestoft Central station in British Railways standard lettering. The right-hand side of the legs of the "R"s are straight rather than Gill's smooth curve.]]

Besides similar fonts, many signs and objects made in Britain during the period of Gill Sans' dominance, such as the Keep Calm and Carry On poster, received hand-painted or custom lettering similar to Gill Sans. During the war, Fighter Command used a standard set of letters similar to it. Matthew Carter, later a prominent font designer, recalled in 2005 that his mother cut linoleum block letters based on it for him to play with. Another little-known follower was the NEN 3225 standard lettering, a project by the Dutch Standards Institute to create a set of standardised lettering for public use in the Netherlands, comprising a sans-serif similar to Gill Sans and a companion serif font drawn by Jan van Krimpen. The project was begun in 1944, but was not published until 1963, and ultimately did not become popular.

Later and digital-only designs

The category of humanist sans-serif typefaces, which Gill Sans helped to define, saw great attention during the 1980s and 1990s, especially as a reaction against the overwhelming popularity of Helvetica and Univers in the 1960s and 1970s.

Modern sans-serif designs inspired by Gill often adapt the concept by creating a design better proportioned and spaced for body text, a wider and more homogeneous range of weights, something easier since the arrival of the computer due to the use of multiple master or interpolated font design, or more irregular and hand-drawn in style. Jeremy Tankard's Bliss and Volker Küster's Today Sans are modern variations; Tankard commented on the genre's eclipse that his aim was to create "the first commercial typeface with an English feel since Gill Sans". Rowton Sans is inspired by Gill but has a nearly upright italic, similar to that used by Gill in his serif font Joanna. More distantly, Arthur Vanson's Chesham Sans is inspired by the British tradition of sans-serif signpainting, with many similarities to Gill's work. Bitstream's Humanist 521 was an unofficial digitisation, to which its Russian licensee ParaType added a Cyrillic version in 1997. SoftMaker and Fontsite also released Gill Sans digitisations under different names, including "Chantilly" and "Gibson".

More loosely, Syntax by Hans Eduard Meier is similar in some ways. Released in 1968 and praised by Tschichold, it was intended to be a more dynamic, handwriting-influenced sans-serif form. Its italic is, however, more of an oblique than Gill's. Many other fonts are influenced by Gill Sans to some extent.

Font superfamilies

thumb|left|A lightly customised Gill Sans on a 1935 Monotype typesetter keyboard

A logical extension of the humanist sans-serif concept is the font superfamily: a serif font and a matching humanist sans-serif with similar letterforms. Martin Majoor's FF Scala Sans is a popular example of this influenced by Gill's work; Mr and Mrs Eaves, by Zuzana Licko, are based on Baskerville, and Dover Sans and Serif, by Robin Mientjes, are based on Caslon. Monotype itself released Joanna Sans in 2015, as a screen-optimised sans-serif font intended to complement (but not exactly match) Gill's serif design Joanna.

thumb|Portions of this inter-war Polish advertisement (of [[Agfa-Gevaert|Gevaert negatives) are in Gill Sans using the "continental" alternatives resembling Futura]]

In many countries, typeface designs are not copyrightable, and in others, such as the United Kingdom, the design is out of copyright after the 70 years have passed since Gill's death in 1940, when the metal type family had been essentially completed. That makes it legally permissible to create alternative digitised versions of Gill Sans, although not necessarily of later Monotype additions to the font, such as the book weight and euro sign. However, the name "Gill Sans" remains a Monotype trademark (no. 1340167 in the US), and therefore is not eligible to be used to name any derivative font.

No complete direct open-source Gill Sans clone has been released. One of the most extensive is Gillius, a derivative by the Arkandis Digital Foundry project and designer Hirwen Harendal, which includes bold, italic, condensed and condensed bold styles. It is not a pure clone, but rather is partly created by modifying Bitstream Vera and adds influences from geometric fonts that are particularly visible in the design of the "w". K22, a foundry in Quezon City that is operated by designer "Toto G", has released two Gill Sans shadowed variants as K22 EricGill Shadow (digitising the Gill Sans Shadow 338 design) and K22 EricGill Shadow Line, an inline variant, for free for "personal, private and non-commercial purposes" and for sale for commercial use. Sans Guilt, a direct clone of the medium weight, was released by Brussels open source design group OSP in 2011, but contains several obvious errors, such as misaligned "w" and "x" characters.

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Carter, Sebastian. Twentieth Century Type Designers. W.W. Norton, 1995. .
  • Johnson, Jaspert & Berry. Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Cassell & Co, 2001. .
  • Ott, Nicolaus, Friedl Fredrich, and Stein Bernard. Typography and Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. 1998, .
  • Ovenden, Mark. Johnston and Gill: Very British Types. Lund Humphries. 2016,