Article 4WT18 Chomsky: a blackletter typeface inspired by The New York Times' nameplate

Chomsky: a blackletter typeface inspired by The New York Times' nameplate

by
Rob Beschizza
from on (#4WT18)

The New York Times' logo looks like it might be set in a classic blackletter typeface, but it is in fact hand-made. Enter Chomsky, a typeface designed by Fredrick Brennan (yes, the Fredrick Brennan) and derived from the NYT's distinctive old-timey nameplate.

This font is not an exact copy of the New York Times masthead. Rather, it aims to be suitable for running text as well, so I used a larger stem size. The difference between some of the characters are shown below; the N.Y.T. logo is above, and Chomsky below... :

time.jpg?resize=943%2C349&ssl=1

I was quite surprised, that to my knowledge, I am the first to have undertaken this project. Many other famous brands, for example that of CNN, Sega, and Coca Cola have fonts in homage to them; indeed, most of these fonts were made in the pre-Unicode era and are branded in terms of metadata with the name of the defunct, but once prominent, Macromedia Fontographer; the CNN copy cat font is itself going on twenty years old.

Perhaps it was the difficulty of creating the extra letters in a blackletter face that scared away would be font authors. Perhaps it was lack of knowledge about the law in this area. Either way, I do believe that I am the first.

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