Century Gothic is a stand-in for Avant Garde, but with the stylistic details of Twentieth Century, which was a knock-off of Futura from the metal type days.

There are hundreds if not thousands.

But the line is not very clear between “knock-off” and other forms of “similar,” and things can get weird and complicated.

For example, 20th Century was a knockoff of Futura, but was redrawn to match the widths (and look?) of ITC Avant Garde and the result was renamed Century Gothic.

Monotype Corsiva was drawn from the beginning to match the widths of ITC Zapf Chancery, yet the letterforms are sufficiently distinct that I don’t think of it as an imitation or knock-off.

Book Antiqua is a straight-up knock-off of Palatino, but well done, and the same companies (Microsoft & Monotype) also now have the original....

Corel used to have hundreds of knock-off fonts under “similar” names. They changed to licensing from the Bitstream and URW libraries for all but a few. Bitstream has lots of designs that were originally unlicensed but well-executed, but often involving the original type designers, just not the original foundries... and then they got an arrangement with Linotype as well.

That’s not a comprehensive list, and then there are cases which are more disputed.... It’s a pretty wacky world out there.

Cheers,

T

More here: http://www.ms-studio.com/articlesarialsia.html

A more interesting question might be what knock-offs are superior to the original digital versions? Some of the early Bitstream fonts may claim that title, some have argued that Apple Chalkboard is superior to Comic Sans.

The great Segoe swindle comes to mind. Simply a tweaked Frutiger. Microsoft had an insanely bad reputation for this back in the days pre ClearType. I hope we won’t see a repeat of the kind of behaviour.

@Clauses: We will have to agree to disagree on that. Segoe is hardly startlingly original, and is in the same general design space as Frutiger, but it isn’t like they started with Frutiger and tweaked it. (If you don’t mean it literally, don’t say it, btw: there are actual living people responsible for this stuff, and you are accusing them of things, whether you realize it or not.)

Same for Myriad, which is sometimes similarly accused. What’s particularly interesting is that Segoe and Myriad are more dramatically different from each other: they differ from Frutiger in opposite directions from each other. Myriad softer, more humanist, with more angled stroke endings, Segoe harsher with more strictly vertical and horizontal stroke endings, with Frutiger in the middle. The Segoe approach to stroke endings is arguably best for text sizes on screen... I wish I could use it on my iPhone!

Cheers,

T

Thomas that is bordering on the laughable. Segoe is such a knock-off of Frutiger. Linotype, for one, agrees with me. Whether or not the “designer” is alive or not does not change this fact.

I would never describe Gotham as a knock-off, but the similarities between Gotham and Avenir are undeniable. I think of them as two strong typefaces aiming at near targets, from different angles, that happen to resolve with similar solutions. But the two behave quite differently in use. And many would consider Gotham superior to Avenir (a debate for another time).

If we’re examining visual similarity, it’s one thing, but if we’re examining the designer’s intent, that’s another. With sans serif typefaces, I often find the similarities stronger than the differences. Most of the differences don’t really come out between similar faces until you start typesetting and designing layouts with them, testing their unique capabilities and tolerances. There’s an endless stream of Frutiger-like sans typefaces out there, but I’m not sure they could/should all be considered Frutiger knock-offs.

>And many would consider Gotham superior to Avenir (a debate for another time).

I think this is worth debating now. Helvetica is better than AG, Myriad is better than Frutiger – these fonts demonstrate innovation and creativity even if some traditionalists might consider them too close to the original. Inferior copies are easy targets. The superior ones are more difficult to critique.

Si, can you expand on your Myriad vs. Frutiger statement? I consider them to be different enough that they’re not interchangeable, but I don’t use either regularly.

Expanding on this topic, I find that my favorites from H&F-J tend to be reinventions/re-examinations/revivals of prior typefaces or styles. Sentinel is a good example of this. I love Clarendon, but from what I’ve seen, Sentinel looks even better. Better meaning that it takes what’s great about Clarendon and expands on it, while adding a fresh character to it that makes it immediately appealing. Gotham is also a great example of this. It’s so familiar in every way, but it still stands out.

>Myriad is better than Frutiger

>Si, can you expand on your Myriad vs. Frutiger statement?

I think Myriad is the better typeface, it eliminates some of Frutiger’s quirks and includes a true italic. I think the fact that Linotype made Frutiger Next, and Frutiger Neue kind of demonstrates an acknowledgement that Myriad innovated in the humanist-sans space.

Personally, I find Troll original to be vastly superior to Troll Neue.