I don't know if this qualifies, but you may be interested in Aaux. I've found, at least for my own purposes, that it behaves very similarly to News Gothic, but with a definitely unique flavor.

Folio?
T

Having just done an extensive typeface classification project myself, here are a few I can think off from off the top of my head (don't have access to my notes at the moment):

Abadi
Corporate S
Venus

Or Chalet (the Paris 1960, London 1960 & New York 1960 as well as their respective Comprime cuts)

Or even FF City Street Type

Then there is Macromedia's corporate face Vonnes, designed by FontBureau, but seemingly not available to the general public at this stage.

Could you tell us some more about your project? It sounds interesting...

imago, avenier?

Monotype Grotesque?

Oh, you're right stephen. I didn't read the post carfully

> avenier

Avenir is really more of a geometric face in the vein of Futura, thus the name (which of course means "future" in French).

Kristin, if you are including American Gothic faces such as the ones you mentioned by MF Benton, you could also look at Lightline Gothic and Clearface Gothic. Personally, I like to think of American Gothic faces as a separate (sub-)category to the mainly European Realist Grotesks, not least because most of the American cuts have an old-style three-storey "g". ALso, FontBureau have recently released Benton Sans, a revival of this period. In fact, half the FB catalogue is derived from roughly this period, so you may have some luck there for some of the modern interpretations.

Kristin,

Have you looked at my Sans Serif Font Identification Guide? There are now over 750 families classified by letterform features of 7 key letters (a, e, g, G, M, R and y).

I will leave the genre classification to others (Grotesk/Grotesque, and such terms are too vague and often misused) and try to use a scheme that doesn't depend on such judgments. Look at how much difficulty experts in this group are having agreeing about which are which. In my opinion a classification scheme should be independent of such labeling attempts, because there are too many 'grey' areas in the digital era fonts.

These are great suggestions! I've also decided to include Compacta and DIN.

Cheshire Dave, Aaux is a great suggestion and a font I hadn't seen. It looks like an elegant alternative.

Tim, for some reason I had thought of Folio as a geometric face, but your post made me take another look. You're right -- it fits the bill.

Stephen, I've been busy but hope to be back more. Univers. Well, du-uh, yeah!

Refusenik, your multiple suggestions are very helpful. I've become fascinated (again!) with font classification systems through this little project of mine. Are you planning on sharing your own research anywhere? I'd be interested in seeing what you've done.

Adriano, another du-uh post! MT Grotesque. And it's right here on my hard drive. Thanks!

Refusenik, your multiple suggestions are very helpful. I've become fascinated (again!) with font classification systems through this little project of mine. Are you planning on sharing your own research anywhere? I'd be interested in seeing what you've done.

Yes, it's an evil virus, isn't it?

I think Mike Yanega is absolutely correct to state that it is nigh on impossible to classify typefaces in an academically exhaustive way - there are just too many exceptions to every rule you could possibly come up with.

However, I do think that type classification has a place in every designer's universe, especially if it is conducted in a pragmatic and non-dogmatic manner. It can be a great help in making educated judgements about a particular typeface's suitability for the requirements and context of a given job.

My own research, therefore, was simply a way for me to see what is out there from foundry catalogues both online and offline and to find my favourites in each of the categories. Of course, the standard type classification systems are not very useful, so I had to devise my own system of classification by combining, modifying and extending what is out there. I'm happy with the results, but I have yet to devise a way to share my findings. Perhaps I'll get it together one day...

What about you? Is it "just" a personal hobby or are you doing this for a greater good?

Another might be Vectora.

Another might be Vectora.

Yes, good call. Apparently, Vectora was Frutiger's attempt at an "American-style Gothic".

FF Super Grotesk has a geometric, Futura-like UC paired with a grotesk lowercase. See the "B" weight, in particular.

http://www.fontshop.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.fontdisplay&packagefontid=0&displayfontid=FF.11133.4.19&view=single&searchID=0&searchby=keyword&searchletter=A&searchstr=super%20grotesk&totalrecords=20&startrow=1&records=20&currpage=1

I read somewhere that Vectora is Frutiger's experiment on how high he could push the x-height.

FF Super Grotesk is a lovely typeface, in fact it's one of my faves in its genre.

That said (and as if to prove Mike Yanega's assertion that type classification is entirely in the eye of the beholder) Super Grotesk is essentially Futura (Super Grotesk A) with an alternate three-storey g (Super Grotesk B) and a full set of ligatures (Super Grotesk C), so for me it's basically a geometric face with extra features, but without any obvious connection to classic Realist grotesques such as Akzidenz Grotesk.

Another old grot (but I don't think has made it to the digital
world) is Record Gothic, a Ludlow face that in some weights
looks like News Gothic, in others looks like Helvetica with a
three-story g.

What about you? Is it "just" a personal hobby or are you doing this for a greater good?

If the tool I'm developing turns out halfway decent and I can find a way of posting it without releasing the outlines, I will gladly share it. It's one of those projects, however, that tends to grow more complicated. Especially when I do silly things like ask a bunch of experts in typography to add to my list of fonts. ;)

I will leave the genre classification to others (Grotesk/Grotesque, and such terms are too vague and often misused) ...

Mike, you are right. Even framing my question in this thread required me to expand on the labeling somewhat. Outside of venues such as this, the terms are relatively meaningless

The value in type classifications became clearer to me when I studied more about the history of typography. Bill Moran of Blinc Publishing in St. Paul taught a class at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts that opened my eyes to the technological bases for many developments in typeface design. It was very helpful in understanding type design up until the digital age. Since we are still using those classic designs in digital form, the labels continue to be useful for me.

Also, Mike, I have looked at the Bowfin pages. I find his san serif guide baffling. The script guide, however, is more user-friendly and has saved me hours of time in identifying fonts.

Thanks to all who suggested fonts!

Kristin

"Also, Mike, I have looked at the Bowfin pages. I find his san serif guide baffling."

I guess it helps to be the one who devised the scheme ;-)

If you'd care to share your observations in a separate e-mail, I'd like to hear what made it baffling for you. My goal is to make it more user friendly by making it independent of stylistic terminology. The idea is to use the 7 letters to narrow choices down to faces with similar characteristics. It usually helps me, but I'd like others to be able to use it too.