Gerry Powell

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Gerry Powell Type and industrial designer, b. 1899, New York. He had his own design studio and became director of the American Type Founders company, commonly known as ATF. His typefaces: Onyx (1937, ATF). Onyx was designed by Gerry Powell for ATF in 1937. It is a modernization of Modern Roman Bold Extra Condensed, and is virtually an extra condensed version of Ultra Bodoni. Mac McGrew: Linotype classifies the typeface with Poster Bodoni, their equivalent to Ultra Bodoni. Onyx Italic was designed by Sol Hess for Monotype in 1939, and is made as mats only by that company. Onyx is also cast by the [Lettergieterij] Amsterdam foundry as Arsis. Digital versions include Onyx (Bitstream), Onyx (Monotype), Onyx (Tilde), OPTI Onyx (Castcraft), and Onyx MT (Adobe). Arsis is now marketed by Linotype and URW. About Onyx versus Arsis, there has been some discussion by type lovers. Apparently, both were released in 1937, Onyx by ATF and Arsis by Tetterode. It is believed both foundries had a deal on the exchange of some typefaces. Lanston Monotype had a metal Onyx that was probably copied from the ATF version, and the Monotype UK metal Onyx was probably a copy of Lanston Monotype. The current digital version of Monotype seems to be made after the Monotype UK metal version. The Bitstream digital version was copied from the ATF Onyx typeface. Stymie (ATF, 1935-1937, with Sol Hess). This was a Morris Fuller Benton design from 1931 created in reaction to the popular slab serif Memphis. Now available at Bitstream. Stencil (ATF, 1937). Versions of this rounded stencil typeface exist at Bitstream, Linotype (1997, a Cyrillic version by Alexey Chekulaev), URW++, Adobe and Elsner&Flake. Mac McGrew: Stencil is a heavy roman letter with white breaks in the thinner strokes as though done with the traditional cut-out stencil. There are two versions of the type, both issued in 1937. The one drawn by R. Hunter Middleton for Ludlow appears to have reached the market first, having been advertised in June of that year. Its basic letter is much like a Clarendon (compare Craw Clarendon). The ATF version by Gerry Powell was ready the following month; it is narrower but has a bolder effect. Neither font has lowercase, but the ATF typeface is cut in a range of sizes, while Ludlow offers only one size. Daily News Gothic (1938, ATF). Cut for the Daily News newspaper. Spartan Bold Condensed (1940, ATF). FontShop link. Klingspor link. View Gerry Powell's typefaces.	EXTERNAL LINKS Gerry Powell [Designer info] Monotype link Klingspor Museum page MyFonts search Monotype search Fontspring search Google search INTERNAL LINKS Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Stencil fonts ⦿ Cyrillic type design ⦿ Type design in the United Kingdom ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Cutout or paper-cut typefaces ⦿