TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Mon Apr 15 06:07:03 EDT 2024

FONT RECOGNITION VIA FONT MOOSE

LUC DEVROYE

ABOUT

Greg Fleming

British creator of the Open Font Library typeface family Railway Sans (2012), an open source version of Edward Johnston's typeface for the London Underground of 1916.

Greg explains: Railway Sans is a previously unpublished work, originally digitised by my late friend and partner, the typographer Justin Howes, in 1994, some seventy-eight years after the first appearance of Johnston's Railway type in 1916. Using an old SPARC station, some bitmap-to-vector software which I'd written which output in ASCII Type 3 font format and a Crosfield drum scanner to initially capture the outlines, these were then converted from bitmaps into vector font data. Justin had wanted to capture and make an experimental font of this version, drawn directly from Johnston's original artwork of 1913-1915 as part of the book he was writing on Edward Johnston and other Johnston-related research, and later revisions and variations which were originally the only characters in the typeface in various samples and working proofs kindly lent by Andrew Johnston.

He goes on: This version of the original Johnston typeface of 1916, in both TrueType and OpenType format, will work with Macs, Linux and Windows computers and will provide authenticity when recreating Underground signage. This is why I am making this version available for enthusiasts who seek an authentic-looking digital version of the original Underground type. It is not derived from the Banks's and Miles New Johnston Sans (so brilliantly realised by Eiichi Kono, 1979). Nor is it a copy or in any way a facsimile of any existing commercial typeface, such as P22's excellent version, Underground. It is rendered entirely from proofs done by Edward Johnston himself at the time the typeface was commissioned. Fontspace link.

EXTERNAL LINKS
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INTERNAL LINKS
Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type design in the United Kingdom ⦿ Sites with only a few free fonts ⦿ Open source fonts ⦿