British Vogue (1999–2002)
Contributed by Michael Bojkowski on May 9th, 2018. Artwork published in
December 1999
.
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9 Comments on “British Vogue (1999–2002)”
The light weight is not too far from regular Gill Sans Light, with some interesting differences. For example, u is stemless, bdpq are spurless (like in the bolder weights of classic Gill, a feature that was applied across all weights in Gill Sans Nova), dots are square (only in the lighter weights of both Gill Sans and Nova).
The strict monolinearity without much optical compensation give the bolder weights a similar (anti)aesthetics as stroked type (i.e. type with a contour applied in a layout program).
Looks a lot like something the creative director’s friend knocked together after playing with Gill Sans for a few hours in Fontographer.
It’s Gill Sans minus the quirks. Kinda like Vogue AG (Avant Garde).
Speaking of which: Terminal Design’s portfolio also includes another custom hairline variant of Gill Sans: Skinny Eric was designed for SELF Magazine.
“Proving once again, that all women’s magazines must have an ultra thin typeface if they are to be successful.” —Kati Korpijaakko (from Terminal Design’s website).
Ha – good spot, I was the creative director of British Vogue at the time. I had been using Gill – I liked the idea of a British font – but the quirks were throwing up issues and the heavier weights were quite ugly. So I commissioned this font as a monoline version of Gill – in a few weights – I don’t remember how many.
I was working in Quark Express and this was still quite early days of DTP. Plus I did not have much of a budget. So it was never fully finished (no look-up tables or punctuation) So I had to optically letter space it most of the time. I can’t remember who did it for me. It was called ‘line’ – I think I still have a copy if anyone is really interested – Robin Derrick
Matt Brown’s comment above nailed it basically!
Robin, thank you very much for chiming in here! Outstanding. I’m glad we can put this riddle to bed after more than three years.
I’ve added your name to the design credits. Do you remember who made the font? If you can unearth the font file(s), we’d definitely be interested in obtaining a copy – if only to typeset a sample for this post. You can send it to info(аt)fontsinuse.com. Cheers!
Hey Robin. Thanks for the reply! Much appreciated. Avid follower of your work over the years (—that Bazaar re-launch cover!—) Would be super interested in a copy of 'line’. Maybe I can fill in those missing characters for you. :) — michael@okinterrupt.email