Gill sans

[52D]

Hi chaps ive just come across an interesting picture on flickr with Mr Eric Gill posing with a hand painted Gill sans Headboard for the Flying Scotsman. Thats the first picture ive seen of Mr Gill and his handiwork together. The loco behind is 4475 FLYING FOX.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/3964851071/

[hq1hitchin]

A rare shot, right enough and thanks very much, 52D. From what I've read, Mr Gill was a bit of an odd cove but was cute enough to get a footplate ride on the mainline as part of his fee for doing the artwork for the LNER. If you recall, that was one of the very few good things that Railtrack did - introduce Gill Sans as their font in correspondence. Soon ditched by NR when they came along, though

[BJamieson]

Which one is Eric Gill then?

Bill

PS Only joking!

[2512silverfox]

Just to put the record right, Eric Gill designed Gill Sans (Medium, Light and Bold) some years before the LNER took it up as their corporate image. The first transport uise of it was LPTB although they eventually designed their own subset of it which is still in use today.

Carriage headboards and some freight stock adopted Gill Sans from 1935 onwards. Locos not until 1946! (except some A4s)

[73D]

Just to put the record right, Eric Gill designed Gill Sans (Medium, Light and Bold) some years before the LNER took it up as their corporate image. The first transport uise of it was LPTB although they eventually designed their own subset of it which is still in use today.

Gill was released by Monotype in 1928 and in 1929 Cecil Dandridge commissioned Eric Gill to produce Gill Sans to be used on the LNER.

The Johnston typeface was designed in by Frank Pick and introduce in 1916 for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and was later adopted by the London Passenger Transport Board, so pre-dates Gill's typeface by some time.

Johnston has been revised over the years to improve readability.

[underground_boy]

Yes, LT used and LU/TfL still uses a version of Johnston - commissioned in 1916 and re-drawn by Banks& Miles in 1989 to become New Johnston. Eric Gill was a pupil of Johnston and, in some respects, there are many similarities between Johnston's 'Sans" and 'Gill sans'. As has been noted Gill Sans was developed for Monotype before the LNER chose it as their corporate type

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/4371214976/#

and later BR continued using the face

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/4039886177/

The 'commercial' version of Johnston - Johnston is still copyright protected to TfL - was Granby, produced by Stephenson, Blake of Sheffield - it is so close that by 1960 some of the LT font sets used Granby as 'fillers' as it was so close and saved LT having additional Johnston cut!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/3732343807/

[Mr Bunt]

Yes, LT used and LU/TfL still uses a version of Johnston - commissioned in 1916 and re-drawn by Banks& Miles in 1989 to become New Johnston. Eric Gill was a pupil of Johnston and, in some respects, there are many similarities between Johnston's 'Sans" and 'Gill sans'. As has been noted Gill Sans was developed for Monotype before the LNER chose it as their corporate type

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/4371214976/#

and later BR continued using the face

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/4039886177/

The 'commercial' version of Johnston - Johnston is still copyright protected to TfL - was Granby, produced by Stephenson, Blake of Sheffield - it is so close that by 1960 some of the LT font sets used Granby as 'fillers' as it was so close and saved LT having additional Johnston cut!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/3732343807/

At which point, having seen the excessive prescriptivity with which the BTC specified its signs, this photo of one still in situ in Ware High Street might be appropriate.

[CVR1865]

There is also a lovely back-lit sign at Charing Cross Bakerloo Line station pointing you towards British Rail upstairs. A really succesful and iconic deisgn that font. And still seen everywhere today, this must be one of the first examples of corporate image to that degree?