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Industrial Sans

Half man, half machine, …

David Sudweeks
I
Last edited August 17, 2015

I stick to a relatively narrow definition of ‘industrial’ here—faces that don’t get too clever, with characteristically draftsman-inspired lines and racetrack ‘O’s, most of them very linear in nature—things that ended up working in an industrial setting or clearly made that their starting point.

always
microphysics
A nuclear war can ruin your whole day

Trade Gothic Bold in all caps (not Bold No. 2) is one of the first of these industrial faces I noticed as a young designer. A kind of strong voice that stays strong with time.

The first cuts of Trade Gothic were designed by Jackson Burke in 1948. He continued to work on further weights and styles until 1960... Read More

chalet
wunderkinder
Please no bomb into the ash here

Industrial and speedy—also check out Ciutadella Rounded. Alternate double-story ‘a’ also available.

winter
bureaucratic
One step ahead to civilization

The original cohesive DIN family made to read well as text and also set display copy with ease. Cool, declaratory, ubiquitous in Germany, and almost so everywhere else.

On the way back to the airport from the 1994 ATypI conference in San Francisco, Albert-Jan Pool... Read More

jungle
zygapophysis
Caution to download the steps

Another router-inspired square draftsman sans

FF Magda is a grunge family designed by Swiss-born designer Cornel Windlin. “I intended it to be a sister font to Erik van Blokland’s... Read More

grapes
zygapophysis
Sunshade with the firm crust

During a visit to London in 2008 I fell in love with the square font used on the British car number plates. I was immediately inspired to start working on this font and have been developing it intermittently ever since. Several more trips to London and the project evolved before it finally took off and became Shentox. Despite the starting point being inspired by simple, everyday car plates, the... Read More

Jackson Burke
Linotype 1948
Eduardo Manso
Emtype Foundry 2012
Albert-Jan Pool
FontFont 1995
Cornel Windlin, Henning Krause and Critzla
FontFont 1998

The Foundry
Martin Lexelius
Martin Lexelius Core 1995
Sibylle Hagmann
Kontour Type 2012
Eduardo Manso
Emtype Foundry 2014