The Hardest Working Font in Manhattan
March 04, 2025 at 05:30PMMarcin Wichary explores the history of the Gorton font, a ubiquitous yet overlooked industrial typeface. Wichary’s fascinating research ultimately leads him to walk over 100 miles in New York City, photographing thousands of examples of the font in the wild. “In a city that never sleeps, Gorton wasn’t allowed to sleep, either,” writes Wichary. “Even in the richest and most glamorous neighborhoods of Manhattan, the font would be there, doing the devil’s work without complaining. Gorton made Gotham feel bougie; American Typewriter touristy.” If you like to follow curious people down rabbit holes, stop what you’re doing and read this refreshing essay, which is accompanied by beautiful photographs.
Gorton wasn’t just on computer keyboards, intercom placards, and sidewalk messages visited by many shoes. Gorton was there on typewriter keyboards, too. And on office signs and airline name tags. On boats, desk placards, rulers, and various home devices from fridges to tape dispensers.
It was also asked to help in situations other fonts rarely did. I spotted Gorton on overengineered buttons that were put to heavy industrial and military use. I saw it carved into surfaces of traffic control devices, elevators and escalators, locomotives and subway trains, submarines and jet fighters. Gorton made its way to peace- and wartime nuclear facilities, it was there on the elevator at the Kennedy Space Center with labels marked EARTH and SPACE… and it went to actual space, and then the Moon, as key legends on Apollo’s onboard computer.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/03/04/the-hardest-working-font-in-manhattan/
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