Gill Sans
84
San Serif: San serifs typeface under Humanist Sans. This kind of san-serif typefaces first appeared in the early twentieth century. Humanist sans-serif typefaces are characterized by the presence of the hand, an uppercase similar in proportion to the monumental Roman capitals, a lowercase similar in the form to the Carolingian script, and an overall more organic structure. Humanist sans-serif typefaces frequently have a true italic rather than a sloped roman. This is most often seen in a single-story lowercase italic "a". X-heights: The x-heights are large so it leads to high legibility and readability. Width and weight: Gill Sans Regular has moderate width and weight. Structure: The capital M from Gill Sans is based on the proportions of a square with the middle strokes meeting at the centre of that square. The Gill Sans typeface family contains fourteen styles and has less of a mechanical feel than geometric sans-serifs like Futura, because its proportions stemmed from Roman tradition. Unlike realist sans-serif typefaces including Akzidenz Grotesk and Univers the lower case is modelled on the lowercase Carolingian script. The Carolingian influence is noticeable in the two-story lowercase a, and g. The lowercase t is similar to old-style serifs in its proportion and oblique terminus of the vertical stroke. Following the humanist model the lowercase italic a becomes single story. The italic e is highly calligraphic, and the lowercase p has a vestigial calligraphic tail reminiscent of the italics of Caslon and Baskerville. Gill Sans serves as a model for several later humanist sans-serif typefaces including Syntax and FF Scala Sans. An Infant variety of the typeface with single-story versions of the letters a and g also exists. Legibility and Readability: The lighter of these fonts is seen to be the best example of Gill Sans. This is mainly due by the legibility factor of the stroke weights within the font. The Bolder the font becomes the more illegible the font is. Voice-over and ethos: Eric Gill said that the shapes of letters do not derive their beauty from any sensual or sentimental reminiscences. No one can say that the O's roundness appeals to us only because it is like that of an apple or of a girl's breasts or of a full moon. Letters are thing, no pictures of things.