(x) Geometric sans used in contemporary Swedish advertising - Stadium Sans, custom by Stockholm Design Lab - {self (Johan)}

Birdseeding12 Feb 2011

In the past year or so, I've seen this one geometric typeface pop up in (I think!) at least three applications, all in billboard ads or public transport ads. I always notice it by subconciously thinking "what's wrong with that Futura?" and then seeing that it's a different typeface entirely - square tittles, less elegant, tighter-spaced, very different /t/ and /e/.

Any clues?

Té Rowan12 Feb 2011#

It could be Avant Garde aka URW Gothic and several other names.

Birdseeding12 Feb 2011#

Hmm, no, I don't think so. Different /t/ and /e/ again. I'll keep looking myself too.

oldnick12 Feb 2011#

It may be an optical illusion, but it looks to me as if the weight of the a one the top line doesn't match the other letters, in which case it may well be the love-child of a Helvetica-Futura coupling...

Bald Condensed13 Feb 2011#

I think this is a custom typeface based on ITC Avant Garde Gothic with some hints of Helvetica, just like Nick describes it.

Birdseeding13 Feb 2011#

Maybe custom, but how about this one then? It's not the same typeface as the one above, I think (round tittles), and it's from an entirely different company (Bank vs. sports retailer) but it's got the same bent /t/ and bigger-apperture /e/ as the previous one, while retaining the Futuraesque /a/ and general geometric feel.

Bald Condensed13 Feb 2011#

The closest I get is Neuzeit Grotesk/Geometric 706. Although the general skeleton matches, the weight distribution doesn't, and the "s" is quite different (more ITC Avant Garde Gothic-like).

Florian Hardwig13 Feb 2011#

What about AG Schoolbook Two? Not a perfect match – the a counter is not round.
(FF Schulbuch also features the tailed t and the single-storey a, but is based on Helvetica and consequently has horizontal terminals)

Té Rowan13 Feb 2011#

Birdy's entry could be Century Gothic, except for the 't'. Again. But, frankly, I have never seen anything in the Futura/AvantGarde style with a bent 't' before. Unless someone has drawn one as an alternate in some font of this style, I'm far adrift.

Birdseeding13 Feb 2011#

Alright, sorry for leading people off on a wild goose chase, I just did what I should have done originally - googled up who did the brand. Turns out the first one is indeed a custom typeface, Stadium Sans by Stockholm Design Lab:

http://www.stockholmdesignlab.se/#/1112/projects/clients/stadium/stadium/

This leads me to suspect the second one is probably also custom work, it's very, very close to Futura in so many other details that it might merely be a variant.

Té Rowan14 Feb 2011#

Oi! It's not the capture, it's the chase!

riccard014 Feb 2011#

Michel Boyer14 Feb 2011#

For the second sample, if you chase a little more you find a few pdf files of that bank using that font. In particular

http://www.ikanobank.se/site_files/docs/ekonomi/Ikano_Delarsrapport_2010...

uses the font on its cover page, and it is called IkanoSans-Bold, thus also custom.

Birdseeding14 Feb 2011#

Ah, can you tell from a PDF what fonts are in it? That would help greatly in future discoverings.

Oh, and thank you!

Michel Boyer14 Feb 2011#

In the Acrobat Reader, you get the list of fonts used in the pdf by selecting File > Properties... > Fonts.

In Acrobat Professional, you can select individual characters and see what font they belong to. You select "Tools> Advanded editing > Touch Up Text Tool" then select the character, right click on it and select "Properties". You then get something like this

Birdseeding14 Feb 2011#

Thank you, that's an extremely useful tip. Turns out my third "Not Futura" was Avant Garde.

Captured from commoncrawl.org on 27 Apr 2015. original URL