Introduction
Prolific! Perhaps this is the best word to describe the life and work of Morris Fuller Benton. The creator of over 200 types for ATF, Benton left his mark on 20th Century design. His faces would spread across the globe, and dozens are still in use today.
Morris Fuller Benton – born 30. 11. 1872 in Milwaukee, USA, died 30. 6. 1948 in Morristown, USA – engineer, type designer.
After training as a mechanic and engineer, Benton jointed the ATF, where he became type designer and in-house designer with ATF.
Fonts: Benton developed over 200 alphabets, all of which were published by ATF, including Century roman (with Theodor Low de Vinne, 1885), Mariage (1901), Alternate Gothic (1903), Franklin Gothic (1903–12), Cheltenham® (1904), Clearface® [...]
Font Designer: Morris F. Benton, 1904
Franklin Gothic™ font was designed in 1904 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company and served as the American Grotesk prototype. The robust character of the font gives text a modern feel. Franklin Gothic font remains one of the most widely used sans serif typefaces even today.
Font Designer: Morris F. Benton, 1904
Franklin Gothic™ font was designed in 1904 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company and served as the American Grotesk prototype. The robust character of the font gives text a modern feel. Franklin Gothic font remains one of the most widely used sans serif typefaces even today.
Not your grandmother’ s medieval type ... meet the “American” Gothic fonts!
A breed of no-nonsense typefaces, called “Gothics” in the United States, have been serving as heavy hitters in financial services, business, and newspaper sectors since the late 19th Century. Gothic typefaces – not to be confused with Blackletter typefaces, which look “gothic” in a scary, medieval sort of way – are American sans serifs. Their forms are designed to solve [...]
Morris Fuller Benton designed Franklin Gothic for the American Type Founders Company in 1903-1912.
Just as early types without serifs were known by the misnomer "grotesque" in Britain, and "grotesk" in Germany, they came to be described as "gothic" in America. There were already many "gothic" typefaces in North America by the early 1900s, but Benton's design was probably influenced by popular "grotesks" from Germany, like Basic Commercial, or D. Stempel AG's Reform. Franklin Gothic may have been named for Benjamin Franklin; however, the design has no historical relationship to that famous early American printer and statesman. Benton was a prolific designer, and he designed several other sans serif fonts, including Alternate Gothic, Lightline Gothic and News Gothic. In fact, News Gothic and Lightline Gothic could be seen as lighter "versions" of Franklin Gothic, and may be used together in the right design.
Recognizable aspects of Franklin Gothic include the two-story "a" and "g," subtle stroke contrast, and the thinning of round strokes as they merge into stems. The type appears dark and monotone overall, giving it a robustly modern look. Franklin Gothic is still one of the most widely used sans serifs; it's a suitable choice for newspapers, advertising and posters.
Another family with a similarly useful design is Trade Gothic.
Franklin Gothic is a trademark of International Typeface Corporation and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Quality features
The Platinum Collection is the exclusive series of optimized classic typefaces from the Linotype Library.
XSF-Fonts are OpenType or TrueType fonts with an excellent appearance on screen at small sizes or low resolutions – especially engineered and optimized for exceptionally readable typefaces on computer screens using Microsoft® Windows operating systems.
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The shown symbols give you an impression about the kind of characters the font contains.
You can create a sample using this font.
