The font on the short-lived TTC rapid transit logo, 1946, used during the construction of the subway The typeface and TTC logo were developed during the construction of in the 1940s, perhaps by draughtsman Philip Butt, but the original designer has not been determined. The original logo used during the subway's development was designed by mid-century architect and chief architect Arthur Keith. Against the wishes of Walter Paterson, the chief engineer, TTC chairman William McBrien and general manager H.C. Patten rejected the design in favour of one that was more similar to the one previously used on TTC vehicles. The station name at Wilson is rendered in the Toronto Subway font on the platform wall slats, after the partial replacement of the original Univers 55 text The font is a distinctive rectangular font composed of capital letters etched into the tiles of stations opened between 1954 and 1974, as well as on signs. Over time, it was replaced by both and on the original (from to stations) as a result of renovations to all stations along that line, except for Eglinton, trim lettering at, and various directional signs. A bold version (the later standard) of this font can be seen at every station along the from to, which were the termini from 1968 to 1980, when Kipling and Kennedy stations were built (these two stations do not use the Toronto Subway font).
Buy Toronto Subway Regular desktop font from Quadrat Communications on Fonts.com. Toronto TTC’s subway station typeface a font of intrigue. There is a vast amount of material related to the construction of the Yonge subway line at the City of Toronto Archives.
It can also be seen at most stations north of Bloor–Yonge station on the eastern branch of Line 1, at stations on the western branch of Line 1 from Union to St. George, and was incorporated into the renovated Bloor, Wellesley, and Union stations. The other fonts, used at stations on system extensions built from the late 1970s to the 1990s, have also been replaced with the recreated font at a few stations: The original Univers 55 at station has been partially replaced with it, and a full replacement of Helvetica was done at after it was renamed from 'Downsview' in 2017.
The font is used at all stations built from 2002 onwards; such as, the, as well as on all stops and stations along the rebuilt streetcar line, with the exception of the terminal at station. The font was recreated by David Vereschagin in 2004. Because the original designer of the font is unknown, and no documentation of the font had been kept, Vereschagin digitized the font by visiting stations and making rubbings of the letters on the original glass tiles as well as taking photographs.
This is now used by the as their font for station names. Vereschagin designed a matching lowercase, inspired by Futura and other similar designs. As one of the few typeface designs to have originated in Canada, it was used in a number of as a mark of local pride.
In 2011, Dominion Modern ran an exhibit on Toronto Subway at 's School of Design. On October 23, 2013, the TTC announced new standards, including using Toronto Subway 'on more signage – at station entrances, fares booths and track level signage'. This decision was made in conjunction with adding route numbers to the subway and RT lines. The wayfinding team also created an overhauled version of the Subway typeface called Bloor–Yonge, which includes missing numbers and punctuation, as well as correcting some design issues with the existing glyphs. Features Notable features:.
near-perfect circles for C, G, O, and Q;. middle horizontal strokes along a horizontal mid-line for B, E, F and H;. a Futura-like S composed of two semicircles;. strokes that tend toward straight lines (even the stem of the distinctive low-waist R) and terminate at right angles;. sharp corners on M, N, V, and W that descend below the baseline or project above the cap height.
Similar fonts Often misidentified as, the Toronto Subway Font is based on. Somewhat similar typefaces include (used by ),. See also., Dylan Robertson, December 11, 2013. ^, BlogTO, Derek Flack, April 5, 2011. ^, TTC, October 23, 2013.
Bateman, Chris (13 April 2018). The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 14 April 2018. Wasserman, Sherri. Retrieved August 1, 2015. Chris Bateman (November 25, 2015). Spacing Toronto.
Retrieved March 10, 2017. Called Bloor-Yonge, the updated version of the font is now used on the official company letterhead, in the Ride Guide, and on the monthly Metropass. External links.
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Monthly Meetup On the second Saturday of every month, with the next one on December 8th at 7:00pm at the Artful Dodger Pub on the second floor. Resources. by, footer by, licensed under. Message the moderators to submit your own! They're actually quite different in several different ways. Though the fonts are similar due to their basis in geometric fonts, you can see that the Toronto Subway often features a smaller x-height whereas the Futura x-height is pretty much half the cap height.
This is easily seen on the 'R', 'P', and 'A'. The Toronto Subway also likes to terminate at 90 degree angles to the line being drawn versus the tendency for Futura lines to flatten out on the baseline. See the 'R', 'Q', and 'K'. There are many geometric, sans-serif fonts out there and Futura is definitely an inspiration for the Toronto Subway. However, the font isn't ripping Futura off by any means. This typeface would have been designed prior to 1954 (interestingly, no-one knows who exactly designed it) when the original subway opened and the only reasoning for this font to 'fleece' the TTC of anything is the disappointing under utilization of it right now.