TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri Dec 13 00:57:45 EST 2024
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Alternate Gothic
[Morris Fuller Benton]
A popular American typeface designed in 1903 by Morris Fuller Benton. It is essentially a condensed version of Benton's other well-known sans serif types, Franklin Gothic and News Gothic, and thus very useful for newsprint and tight work. Even today, it remains popular. Alternate Gothic No. 2, for example, is used in the Youtube logo. Mac McGrew: Alternate Gothic was designed in 1903 by Morris F. Benton for ATF with the thought of providing several alternate widths of one design to fit various layout problems. Otherwise it is a plain, basic American gothic with no unusual features, but represents a more careful drawing of its nineteenth-century predecessors. The Monotype copies in display sizes are essentially the same as the foundry originals, with the addition of f-ligatures. The thirteen alternate round capitals shown in the first line of Alternate Gothic No.1 were designed by Sol Hess in 1927 for Monotype, hence the "Modernized" name; with these letters the design is sometimes referred to as Excelsior Gothic. Monotype keyboard sizes, as adapted by Hess about 1911, are considera- bly modified to fit a standard arrangement; caps are not as condensed as in the original foundry design. In 6-point, series 51 and 77 are both the same width, character for character, but some letters differ a bit in design. Note that these two narrower widths are simply called Alternate Gothic on Monotype, while the wider version is Alternate Gothic Condensed! Alternate Gothic Italic, drawn about 1946 by Sol Hess for Monotype matches No.2, but may be used with other widths as well. Condensed Gothic on Ludlow, is essentially a match for Alternate Gothic No.1, but has a somewhat different set of variant characters, as shown in the third line. There is also Condensed Gothic Outline on Ludlow, introduced about 1953, essentially an outline version of Alternate Gothic No.2. On Linotype and Intertype there is Gothic Condensed No.2 which is very similar to Alternate Gothic No. 1 in the largest sizes only, but with even narrower lowercase and figures. Also compare Trade Gothic Bold and Trade Gothic Bold Condensed. Revivals: Alternate Gothic EF (Elsner&Flake), Alternate Gothic Pro (2016, Softmaker), Alternate Gothic No2 (Bitstream), and Alternate Gothic No1, No2 and No3 (see the URW version or the Linotype version). ATF Alternate Gothic (2015, Mark van Bronkhorst, Alan Dague-Greene, David Sudweeks, Igino Marini, & Ben Kiel at American Type Founders Collection) is a new, significant digital expansion to 40 fonts of Morris Fuller Benton's classic 1903 design. |
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Luc Devroye ⦿ School of Computer Science ⦿ McGill University Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6 ⦿ lucdevroye@gmail.com ⦿ https://luc.devroye.org ⦿ https://luc.devroye.org/fonts.html |