I’ll admit it, I’m a bit of a font whore. But until recently, no matter how many fonts I collected, I always defaulted to my old standbys, which are mainly these:
Bookman
Franklin Gothic
Georgia
Helvetica
Helvetica Neue
Times New Roman
Yes, I know—boring stuff.
Lately, I’ve been forcing myself to use different fonts and I’m having a great time. I just used Hemi Head and Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk for an auto service business card and it really turned out really well. Plus, I’m experimenting with other fonts for other clients.
I’m just curious as to what your favorite fonts are? And yes, I know that it really depends on the specific job, but there are probably a few that you find yourself using more than others.
Top of the list is Johnston - the precursor to Gill Sans, and in use just about everywhere on the Underground in London. It’s Transport for London’s corporate font (not surprising, really), and seems to be becoming the Official London Typeface.
I also like Transport - it’s the font used on pretty much every directional road sign in England.
And, finally, more out of personal interest than any aesthetic value, the rather grizly typeface you’ll see on sone street name plates if you ever visit Chelmsford (or a few streets in Bishop’s Stortford). I documented as many examples as I could find last year before they get eaten up by the rather over-used Kindersley font.
As far as I am aware, this font exists as a series of artefacts from a casting process, for which the moulds and forms have long since gone (the foundry owner tells me a lot of old material was burned in the 1990s). I am in the process of creating an electronic version. I list this as favourite simply because it’s part of where I live, and it reminds me that I’m home.
