Gotham, and Vernacular Type

Is Gotham The New Interstate?, found at The Morning News (which is surely one of the most beautifully spare sites out there) – typographer extraordinaire Tobias Frere-Jones on his new typeface Gotham, inspired by urban American vernacular signage, particularly in New York. And very beautiful it is too. Super-strong, super-clean, but with real character.

There’s more information on its development, and NYC signage, here, which talks about Frere-Jones’ research into New York’s signage, and how he started at the Port Authority Bus Terminal (I know exactly the sign he means, and snapped it a few times myself.) For an entirely new font, it feels very rooted, aiding familiarity. Even the words used as example text settings form some kind of freeform history of 20thC New York e.g.

“Thelonius Sphere Monk Samuel Beckett British Commonwealth Six Stories by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Federal Power Commission Ballad Architectonics Jackson Pollock Leon Bismark Beidebecke Constantin Brancusi Recording Instruments Otto Wagner One Astor Plaza Time Warner Building Main Form Grand Metropolitan Tower Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe Gamesmanship Development of the International House Fifth Bond Tribeca Steerage Vernacular Honoré de Balzac One Rockefeller Plaza 66th Police Precinct Headquarters Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other”

Compare and contrast with Los Feliz – a typeface inspired by Los Angeles vernacular signage, by Christian Schwartz for Emigre. There’s something in this – the difference between the two cities, exemplified in type.