There are certain fonts and also specific items that get requested over and over again (like the Bjork fonts or the Gucci logo). With the fonts, it is simply that they are popular or trendy. Or sometimes it's just a weird cluster. With the logos, it's people who don't bother to do a search before posting a request. Also the search feature isn't that good.

It's been suggested before to make a greatest hits list for people to check before they post a thread but who has the time???

Also, people who aren't in the design business don't necessarily know that a lot of corporate logos, magazine fonts, etc are custom or proprietary and therefore not available to us peons.

Yves and I may be one of those 'again' type of repliers..
( Its just that I have seen so many requests in the past for popular and trendy typefaces like 'DIN', 'Eclat' and alike.. Oh, and of course I would be willing to help out with compiling such a 'most requested' list.. )

Does this board have a feature that allows you "pin" threads so they always stay at the top? With a most-often requested thread in this place, I think it would help a lot.

I, too, would help in the creation of such a thread

Most Common Requested Fonts @ Typophile ID

~ 'Alternate Gothic'
~ 'American Typewriter'
~ 'Apex Sans'
~ 'Avant Garde' ( + Alternates ) > 'Century Gothic'
~ 'Avenir'
~ 'Barmeno' > 'Sari'
~ 'Bauhaus' > 'Chalet' > 'Blippo' > 'Pump' > 'Ronda'
~ 'Beta Sans'
~ 'Bickham'
~ 'Bookman Swash'
~ 'Cooper Black' > 'Goudy Heavyface' > 'Robusto'
~ 'Digital Sans'
~ 'DIN' > 'Aaux' > 'CP Company' > 'Conduit'
~ 'Eclat'
~ 'Frutiger' > 'Myriad'
~ 'Futura'
~ 'Gill Sans'
~ 'Gridnik'
~ 'Handel Gothic' > 'Simian' ( Orangutan )
~ 'Hellenic Wide'
~ 'Helvetica' > 'Akzidenz Grotesk' > 'Arial'
~ 'Isonorm'
~ 'Knockout' > 'Champion Gothic'
~ 'Meta'
~ 'Microgramma' > 'Eurostile'
~ 'Mrs Eaves'
~ 'News Gothic' > 'Trade Gothic' > 'Benton Sans'
~ 'Optima'
~ 'Peignot'
~ 'Radio'
~ 'Rosewood'
~ 'Rotis'
~ 'September'
~ 'Serpentine' > 'Trademarker'
~ 'Siemens' ( Corporate )
~ 'Trajan'
~ 'Univers'
~ 'VAG Rounded' > 'Frankfurter'
~ 'Zapfino'

Please, Feel free to add your own 'favourites' and proposals..
( Added 'Siemens', Thanks Lex; Added 'Bookman Swash', Thanks Patricia; Added 'Alternate Gothic', Thanks Scott.. )

How about the Siemens proprietary fonts, especially the slab?

- Lex

Would linking the font names to sites (where they could be previewed) be a pain? That would be cool.

Think the suggestion of having a "sticky" or whatever at the top of the board is a great one.

I am willing, and wanting, to start a new thread,entitled 'Most Common Requested Fonts @ Typophile', later on, with the names properly linked.. ( Until then, this may be the Typophile ( font ) name dropping thread.. )

Interesting how many more of these are sans than serif fonts.

I'd add Bookman swash to the list.

I'd also love to see a list of the IDs most requested (like the Gucci logo) - that might be particularly useful for first-time posters who don't know about the Advanced Search. In other words, "Check here before you post your thread, the ID may already be on this list." Especially as regards proprietary or custom fonts.

It may even be useful to have images of the fonts as well (i.e. go to myfonts.com, test drive Helvetica with "Hamburgefons" or something, and post the image in the thread). That way it would be easier for people to see instead of having to click on every link, which they probably wouldn't do if there were too many.

- Lex

P.S. I'd help gather the images if needed.

- Lex

Think "Alternate Gothic" would be worthy of the list?

Although I'm new here, I've seen that requested a lot on other sites.

I don't get it. There are already > 40 typefaces on that list. If we keep adding stuff we'll end up with a list of ~100 typefaces. I'm sure something like this (an overview of popular typefaces) already exists in book form.

Do you really think visitors would go through each and every entry on that list? Most requesters come here for the convenience of not having to dig themselves. I don't think this makes sense if there's more than 10 entries.

Actually, I totally disagree. Maybe that's because I (embarrassingly?) myself requested (on various sites not just this one) IDs for Rosewood, Isornorm, and Hellenic Wide. If there was a list at the top of the board here I'd have definitely checked it, lengthy or not. How long does it take to glance at a list of font examples? Besides, it's pretty interesting.

I don't get it. There are already > 40 typefaces on that list. If we keep adding stuff we'll end up with a list of ~100 typefaces. I'm sure something like this (an overview of popular typefaces) already exists in book form. :-)

Do you really think visitors would go through each and every entry on that list? Most requesters come here for the convenience of not having to dig themselves. I don't think this makes sense if there's more than 10 entries.

\I also think a lot of requesters don't have the resources available to many of us (bookmarked foundry web sites, type specimen books, etc), not to mention the institutional memory of having worked with fonts for years or decades. I'm sure some people won't want to wade through the list but they always have the option of just starting a thread. But I bet it will prevent some of the redundant requests.

My pet pieve is requests for sports logos typefaces. Just have a listing: Sports Logos = Big $ for Sports Businesses, therefore Custom.

As a frequently disappointed believer in the value of FAQ's (look at how often we get the same 'what's this font?' subject lines), I tend to agree with Franz, although an illustrated list would be much more accessible to even the most reluctant (lazy) font hunters.

You might say, 'They made some effort to get here, so maybe they would be willing to look through a list of common requests'. My reply would be, 'Of course no one thinks their request is 'common', so who would look at it?' (You would probably have no way of knowing that you were requesting something commonly asked about.)

However, with so many people willing to collaborate in making the list, it's hard to argue against trying it.

I would add Neutraface to the list, and whatever everyone agrees is the best Boston Red Sox font these days.

We should also have something that tells them that looking for specific hand-printed fonts is usually a waste of time, because they are too easy to make and there are thousands of them. Find something similar, and use it.

This could be one a number of general notes on the Most Common Requests Page, with others being about Corporate Logos and Sports teams.

I agree. Images are the way to go, at least for the most requested fonts, Din, Eclat, etc. I imagined this as sort "Check to see if your font is here" thread more than a FAQ, which I think needs to be updated separately. I think both of these (the FAQ and the image IDs) threads should be permanently pinned at the top of the Type ID board. But that's just my opinion.

BTW--if you get 'Eclat' a lot, I'm surprised you don't also get the highly annoying House Industries' "Bullet" > Planet Kosmos on here.

That's the one I've seen requested more than anything on other type sites.

Most Common Requested Type IDs @ Typophile ( v 1.1 b )

® Alternate Gothic
® American Typewriter
® Apex Sans
® Avant Garde ( + Alternates ) ® Century Gothic
® Avenir
® Barmeno ® Sari
® Bauhaus ® Chalet ® Blippo ® Pump ® Ronda
® Beta Sans
® Bickham Script
® Bookman Swash
® Bullet ® Planet Kosmos
® Cooper Black ® Goudy Heavyface ® Robusto
® Digital Sans
® DIN ® Aaux ® CP Company ® Conduit
® Eclat
® Frutiger ® Myriad
® Futura
® Gill Sans
® Gridnik
® Handel Gothic ® Simian ( Orangutan )
® Hellenic Wide ® Hefty ® HiFi Stereo ® Platon ® Zapata
® Helvetica ® Akzidenz Grotesk ® Arial
® Isonorm
® Knockout ® Champion Gothic
® Meta
® Microgramma ® Eurostile ® Monoline
® Mrs Eaves
® Neuropol
® News Gothic ® Trade Gothic ® Benton Sans
® Optima
® Peignot
® Radio
® Rosewood
® Rotis
® Serpentine ® Trademarker
® Trajan
® Univers
® VAG Rounded ® Frankfurter ® Too Much
® Zapfino

Most Common Requested Custom Typefaces + Logos @ Typophile ( v 1.0 b )

® Bjork
® Custom Handwriting, Calligraphy + Lettering
® GE Inspira ( General Electric )
® Large Corporate Brands + Company Logos
® Luxury Fashion Brands ( Gucci, Prada )
® Newspaper + Magazine Mastheads
® September ( Details Mag )
® Siemens
® Sports Logos, Trikots + Uniforms

Please, Still feel free to add your own 'favourites' and proposals, to this thread

Scott - there are no other type sites

- Lex

Nice work Dav! and kudos to the great IDers here.

Hmm. Your links go to the font sites portals, rather than straight to samples of the fonts in question. Most of these fonts are available at Myfonts and they allow you to make a link to the font family itself, easily, and to "test drive" your font. Fontshop is a really cumbersome and slow site to navigate.

Same thing with the second section - I think the links should point to the logo in question (or a previous typophile discussion on the subject) rather than the designer's home page.

Under Sports logos I'd add "and Uniforms".

I'm move Siemens to the second section.

Patricia, I know that my links currently 'just' refer to the vendors and not directly to the fonts themself, but some of these are available from various foundries.. ( And, Well, This may be just a 'beta' version of this list, then.. )

Isn't the GE font called GE Inspira?
(link to previous ID)

Yea, Of course, Justin.. Thank you..
List adjusted..

I see your point about multiple foundries but the only way a list like this (with links) is useful is if it links to specific font showings.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

One of the ideas yesterday was to put an image of each font on the page. That would avoid the issue of where to link, and make the list visual. If you don't know the name, how are you going to find your font on this list?

(I vote for a full alphabet showing, not Hamburgefontsiv...)

Should we start making any images yet? I was about to but then I realized we haven't decided on what it should say (which pangram to use or what size it should be). What about fonts that are hard to obtain like Avante Garde Alternates, would posting "in use" sample be enough? Would "in use" samples be more helpful than generated samples?

James, In my opinion the "in use" samples should be used when a more uniform sample is not available.
I propose using the FontBook sample as a standard. This sample of Myriad was 30 points. I would suggest 550-600 pixel width as a sample size. I think smaller is not enough detail at .gif resolution.

James - Avant Garde Alternates aren't so hard to obtain anymore.

Nice!

Stephen -

I stand corrected. It used to be a very difficult site to use (in my opinion) but I can see that it's been much improved. I hadn't been there in a while.

No need for whip-cracking!

So, lets see what the new Typophile may bring..
I am really, really looking forward to that..

Mike, I also think that some kind of a visual font list, including samples and links to the related vendors would be an almost ideal solution.. ( At Typophile

So much to do, so little time...

I really hope the new board software and search function will
perform better. Fingers crossed.

Patricia - As far as I can tell, FontShop's site does everything
you're suggesting, including linking directly to any font with
a custom text sample. Can you describe more specifically your
FontShop.com complaints? I'll happily crack the whip.

James - Avant Garde Alternates aren't so hard to obtain anymore.
But I agree that it is a common request.

With the Typophile relaunch looming in the very near future, let me simply say that we've got something that can accommodate commonly requested/accessed information.

I'd not recommend devising a new solution that is dependent on this message board... Things will be different-

jb