Gill Sans - a truly modern typeface

I like Gill Sans: it is a truly modern typeface designed by Eric Gill and produced by the Monotype Corporation. It was England's response to the deluge of sans serif designs released by the German foundries in the first half of the 20th century.

Commissioned by Stanley Morison for Monotype after Gill's sans serif lettering on a shop facia in Bristol, Gill Sans made its debut at the 1928 Annual conference of the British Federation of Master Printers.

At the same time, the first three sizes of the roman of Gill Sans were considered by the greater London & North-eastern railway as the basis for its signage, timetables and other printed matter, greatly exceeding in scale and complexity anything that had been done before.

As the standardization progressed, the Gill Sans family proliferated to meet the special demands of timetables; ultimately comprising of 36 derivatives.

Gill Sans continues to thrive to this day. Prominent users include the BBC which adopted the typeface as its corporate typeface in 1997.

Article by Caroline Archer - a writer and eminent print historian - writing for PrintWeek.

We happily endorse Caroline's views as we too adopted Gill Sans as a key element of our visual identity, applying it across our businesses and choosing it for its clarity, legibility and flexibility.