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Commentary

Gotham Makes News in Gotham

Armin Vit on July 8, 2004

The ubiquitous Gotham by Tobias Frere-Jones found its way unto the 9/11 memorial’s stone at the site of the World Trade Center. The New York Times reports on the use of Gotham in the memorial, as set and chosen by Pentagram partner Michael Gericke.

5 Comments

  1. JFP says:
    07.09.04 at 5:21 pm

    Funny you say that because its exactly the question I asked myself the other day watching the news about that memorial: “what face used on it?”

    Gotham fit very well obviously! good choice.

  2. Joey says:
    07.09.04 at 7:15 pm

    Unrelated to Gotham, but connected to New York and typography . . .

    In the Royal Tennenbaums’ fictional New York City (e.g. “247th Street Y”, “Gypsy Cab Company”), Futura is used all over the place. Does anyone think that was intentional (given all the other subtleties of the movie)?

  3. Stephen Coles says:
    07.10.04 at 1:24 pm

    Joey – Yes, I think director Wes Anderson used the same detail in Rushmore.

  4. Jonathan Hoefler says:
    07.10.04 at 7:19 pm

    Wes Anderson is an inveterate Futuraphile. Somewhere on the web, someone posted an outstanding open letter to Anderson entreating him not to use the font next time; I seem to recall that this took the form of dozens of fake movie stills, each festooned with Futura wherever possible. (I can’t seem to find the page by googling it, but if someone else is luckier I hope they’ll post it — it was really pretty funny.)

  5. Hrant says:
    07.14.04 at 3:37 pm

    I think Gotham was a great choice. I also think they should have had it cut by hand. It’s not like they couldn’t afford it.

    hhp

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Typographica is a review of typefaces and type books, with occasional commentary on fonts and typographic design. Edited by Stephen Coles, also of Fonts In Use and The Mid-Century Modernist.

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