I like the author’s observation that the font’s constraint (being drawn with a constant-width line) actually has typographic benefits. Missing an italic/bold/condensed/small-caps variant of your font? If it was a TTF, you could get an approximation (that won’t look as nice) by stretching and squishing the existing letters in various ways. But because Gorton is modeled as strokes instead of filled shapes, the equivalent transformations look a lot better.
I’m reminded of other areas in computing where a constraint comes with a silver lining—like the aesthetics of pixel art, or the composability of text-based CLI tools.
Constraints tend to breed creativity in all spheres, not just computing.
If we consider different methods of communicating in English in a spectrum from binary through Morse code (ternary) to IPA, this font’s 26 core letters can be rendered in exciting ways as can everything else. We could create a protocol only using interpretive dance, or only lines (of varrying thickness) and curves like various shorthand systems, which may include the alphabetic intermediate step or align them directly to the phonemes..
an interesting thought! perhaps one of the main benefits of constraints is that they lead to predictability - creating almost something like an implicit standard?
As the author of the article eventually discovered, engraving machine lettering is based on engineering diagram hand-lettering: there were fairly explicit standards and training for how to write on diagrams.
I wonder how much the lettering templates were redesigned directly from the hand-lettering standards, and how much they were manufactured using pre-existing engraving machine templates.
This essay is typeset in a strangely-spaced version of Century put together for Selectric Composer typewriters and recreated for on-screen use. If that didn’t bother you before, it will bother you through the rest of this article.
Loved this read, thanks for sharing! I’ve been wondering what this type was for a while, I’ve seen it all over London in the underground on those lesser read signs and labels for electrical boxes or on street lights. Now i know!
That Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority map (from the top of section 4) is from a particular time: the Miller Highway (former elevated highway where the West Side Highway is now) still existed, and the Mid-Manhattan Expressway and Lower Manhattan Expressway were still envisioned.
Loved this article. Was inspired to look for Gortonistas in an impromptu wander around the London Bridge area today but only found one example. London either replaces its signs a lot quicker than NYC or we moved to alternate methods much sooner.
(Notwithstanding that other areas of London may have more prevalence, obvs.)
There’s also a supplementary page listing recreations of Gorton as computer fonts
I like the author’s observation that the font’s constraint (being drawn with a constant-width line) actually has typographic benefits. Missing an italic/bold/condensed/small-caps variant of your font? If it was a TTF, you could get an approximation (that won’t look as nice) by stretching and squishing the existing letters in various ways. But because Gorton is modeled as strokes instead of filled shapes, the equivalent transformations look a lot better.
I’m reminded of other areas in computing where a constraint comes with a silver lining—like the aesthetics of pixel art, or the composability of text-based CLI tools.
Marcin Wichary (author of this piece) also has a talk about pixel fonts, linked at the bottom of the article.
Constraints tend to breed creativity in all spheres, not just computing.
If we consider different methods of communicating in English in a spectrum from binary through Morse code (ternary) to IPA, this font’s 26 core letters can be rendered in exciting ways as can everything else. We could create a protocol only using interpretive dance, or only lines (of varrying thickness) and curves like various shorthand systems, which may include the alphabetic intermediate step or align them directly to the phonemes..
an interesting thought! perhaps one of the main benefits of constraints is that they lead to predictability - creating almost something like an implicit standard?
As the author of the article eventually discovered, engraving machine lettering is based on engineering diagram hand-lettering: there were fairly explicit standards and training for how to write on diagrams.
I wonder how much the lettering templates were redesigned directly from the hand-lettering standards, and how much they were manufactured using pre-existing engraving machine templates.
Heh, variable fonts are… kinda bringing this back, without losing the filled shapes.
I can’t imagine how much time and care this must have taken to put together even the website alone. Major kudos to the author.
I hope they don’t mind me studying their site for inspiration (after I finish their post!).
This was lovely. Industrial history mixed in with quiet appreciation of the prosaic artistry of a particular type.
Author was right. It did bother me.
Loved this read, thanks for sharing! I’ve been wondering what this type was for a while, I’ve seen it all over London in the underground on those lesser read signs and labels for electrical boxes or on street lights. Now i know!
That Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority map (from the top of section 4) is from a particular time: the Miller Highway (former elevated highway where the West Side Highway is now) still existed, and the Mid-Manhattan Expressway and Lower Manhattan Expressway were still envisioned.
Loved this article. Was inspired to look for Gortonistas in an impromptu wander around the London Bridge area today but only found one example. London either replaces its signs a lot quicker than NYC or we moved to alternate methods much sooner.
(Notwithstanding that other areas of London may have more prevalence, obvs.)