10 beautiful fonts designed in London

Fonts matter

Believe it or not, fonts matter a lot in this digital era. From helping design a webpage layout that looks good to affecting how the audience perceives the content, fonts play an integral role in getting your message across. But where did fonts come from exactly? While the history of fonts can be traced back to the 15th century and a number of different locations, today we will just take a brief look at the fonts designed in London, which holds a special place in the history of font designing.

1. Times

Developed by Stanley Morrison in 1931, the Times font has become one of the widely used fonts around the globe.  

The manager of a London daily newspaper, ‘The Times’ asked Morrison to make his paper more presentable. Morrison redesigned the paper, giving it a new font, which was called Times New Roman. This font, made after the name of a newspaper, still enjoys a promising reputation.

2. Gill Sans

Developed by Eric Gill in 1928, Gill Sans font is used extensively by various designers. It was first produced by Monotype Corporation, where Eric Gill designed this font and classified into a family. The Gill Sans family comprises of diverse weights, sizes, and variants.

3. Johnston

Produced by Frank Pick in 1913, Johnston was used in the signs of London Underground Railways. It is better known as Johnston’s Railway Type, Johnston Sans or just Johnston.

4. Bliss

Produced by Jeremy Tankard of Cambridge, UK, Bliss is a captivating font that has been in use as a business typeface. It has sleek and active letters that add into its readability.

5. Banbury

Yet another famous font made in London is Banbury. It comprises of weighty characters that are easier to be read through a distance. This font enjoys its reputation as one of the most common typefaces in London.

6. Slab-serif               

Slab-serif was first observed and recognized as a typeface in London in 1810. The producer of this typeface Vincent Figgins first called it Antique. It has observable and simple characters that are appropriate for representation of advertisements. This font enjoys its reputation as one of the most famous fonts designed in London for posters.

7. Harbour

This font, originally designed in London, was used by Nike’s event called the Fastest Night in London. It has unique characters with sharp edges, bolder and captivating than usual letters. This font looks great in posters and ads.

8. Trilogy Sans

Produced in London, this is the font that is used in the City of London Police Museum. It has symmetrical, sleek letters that are appropriate for descriptive text.

9. Playbill

This is a unique font that has bolder characters with lesser spaces in between. This font is often used by London Transport.

10. Sans-serif

Sans-serif has slightly bold letters with a fair space in between them. This minimalistic font is effective in newspapers and wordy sign boards.

So, that’s it. The comprehensive list of 10 most popular fonts designed in London.