Franklin Gothic Goes on Forever
with
Nick Sherman
Since its debut at the beginning of the 20th century from the American Type Founders Company, the Franklin Gothic family of typefaces has played a major role in shaping the visual landscape of the United States. It has proven to be a versatile and timeless design for everything from hardcore punk bands to the US military.
This talk by Nick Sherman will cover historical info about Franklin Gothic and its relatives, a thorough examination of its design and usage, plus some personal background about how it became the first typeface he fell in love with, why he thinks it deserves more appreciation, and his own efforts to update it for the 21st century.
The Herb Lubalin Lectures are recorded and made available here and on Vimeo with the generous support of TypeCulture.
About Nick Sherman
Nick Sherman is a typographer, web designer, typeface designer, and typographic consultant. He runs HEX Projects, a company that makes fonts and websites, and is a founder and designer of Fonts In Use and v-fonts.com.
A graduate of the Type@Cooper Extended Program in typeface design at The Cooper Union, Nick is also creative director and web designer/developer for their Typographics design festival. He is a member of the Future Fonts platform and has served on the board of directors for the Type Directors Club, the Adobe Typography Customer Advisory Board, and the artistic board for the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. A List Apart has published his writing on responsive design and web typography, and he occasionally talks and teaches classes on those topics.
Previously, Nick has worked at Font Bureau, Webtype, and MyFonts, directing web design and promotional material for digital typefaces. He graduated with honors from the Graphic Design program at MassArt in Boston, where he has also taught undergraduate typography, typeface design, and letterpress printing. Originally from Cape Cod and Boston, he is also a skateboarder, pizza enthusiast, printer, musician, and classic horror film buff.