Research on Typeface (Gill Sans)

Gill Sans was created by Eric Gill (1882–1940), who was an artist from the U.K who specialized in various disciplines including wood-engraving, sculptures, and calligraphy. In the middle of his career, he got really into type design and created Gill Sans in 1928.

The inspiration behind Gill Sans can be traced to a type face that Gill’s teacher, Edward Johnston, designed for the signage of the London Underground Railway in 1918. The company that backed up Gill and sponsored this typeface was Monotype.

Gill Sans is known to be a more classical typeface in that the overall design is looked at as being simplistic and real. The main purpose of this typeface was to be used for posters, advertisements, and texts that needed to be clearly legible at small sizes or from a distance. Thus, the typeface functioned extremely well as a font that was useful for a professional setting and a setting that required a message to be delivered clearly and concisely.

In terms of the design in specific, the proportions of the type face originate from monumental Roman capitals in the upper case, and traditional old-style serif letters in the lower case. Gill sans is not known to follow pure geometric principles, but it nonetheless does have a geometric feel as seen through the perfectly circular “O” and strictly structured “M”.