Eurostile
Encyclopedia
The Eurostile type font style
is a geometric sans-serif
typeface
designed by Aldo Novarese
in 1962. Novarese originally made Eurostile for one of the best-known Italian foundries
, Nebiolo
, in Turin
.
Novarese developed Eurostile because although the similar Microgramma, which he had also designed, came with a variety of weights, it had only upper-case letters. A decade after he had designed Microgramma, Novarese remedied this flaw with his design of Eurostile, which added lower-case letters, a bold condensed variant, and an ultra narrow design he called Eurostile Compact, for a total of seven fonts.
, with an appeal both technical and functional. The squarish shapes with their rounded corners evoke the appearance of television screens of the 1950s and 1960s. As such, it has found some popularity in contemporary graphic design
, as well as in science fiction
novel and film artwork.
format. During the digitization process, the super curves were flattened.
Although the font family is based on the Microgramma font, some of the characters do not follow the styling of the family. These characters include non-letter characters like integral, infinity, pilcrow; letterlike symbols like @, copyright mark, registration mark; and accents such as cedilla and the tilde.
The family includes ten fonts in three weights and three widths. Condensed and Extended fonts do not have oblique or demi weight counterparts. It supports ISO Adobe 2 character sets.
In all, the family includes 11 fonts, adding an Outline Bold font to the original Eurostile family by Linotype. It supports ISO Adobe 2,Adobe CE, Latin extended character sets.
, Microsoft Works 2002, Microsoft Home Publishing 99, Microsoft TrueType
Font Pack 2. Electronic versions of these and all other Eurostile typefaces can also be purchased on-line directly from Linotype GmbH and URW in several systems, including OpenType, TrueType and PostScript.
, Ash
, The Supernaturals
, Eminem
, Pendulum
, and several dance compilations from Warner. Eurostile Extended 2 can also be seen in the cover artwork for Marilyn Manson's 1998 album Mechanical Animals
. It was used by Westlife
on their first two albums, Westlife
and Coast to Coast, and is currently used by Argentine Pop
band Bandana & electrotango band Tanghetto
as complementary typography to the band's logo.
used the font for the credits during the Second Doctor
era (1966 to 1969, with Patrick Troughton
in the lead role), and again in cast and crew titles from 1987 to 1989. The BBC One
holding slides from 1976-83 were in Eurostile. Eurostile Bold Condensed was used in the later logo of the TVS
news programme Coast to Coast. It was also used for Tyne Tees Television
's idents from 1969 to 1989. Eurostile—and the Microgramma Extended Bold font on which it is based—was the primary font used in the science fiction series UFO
, created by Gerry Anderson
in 1969. All of the vehicles and clothing bearing the logo of the series' secret organisation SHADO
used the font, in addition to the main titles. Eurostile was also used in the title of television shows such as Ironside
, Adam-12
, Star Trek Enterprise and can be found in several video games such as Homeworld
, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
, Tekken, Splinter Cell
, and Driv3r.
Sports television, in particular, has made significant use of Eurostile; Fox Sports
, NFL Network
, Comcast Sportsnet
and Versus
all use or have used the font for its on-screen information, with Comcast Sportsnet, Versus and Speed (a Fox Sports-owned channel) using it as recently as late 2011. As of fall 2011, Eurostile is not currently used by any nationwide sports broadcaster, having been superseded by other, narrower typefaces.
, or French Connection — United Kingdom. It is also the corporate branding for French Printemps department store
chain.
and Diadora
. The retail version was authorized by Toshiba Europe GmbH to URW, where Eurostile Black OT was sold. Eurostile Extended Bold is used in the CASIO
and Roland Corporation
JUNO logos. Eurostile is also used for the logo of Colgan Air
, Roadcycling.com, Roadcycling.mobi, and the Eurovision Song Contest
. The NBA's San Antonio Spurs
use Eurostile in their logos.
and The Force Unleashed 2
. Eurostile is also used in the title of the game Homeworld
and Homeworld 2
. The StarCraft
series also use Eurostile.
Eurostile was used in Deus Ex: Human Revolution as the main font style of the game, including the Picus Network tablet papers.
In recent installments of Ratchet & Clank
, Eurostile is used for most of the text in the game.
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
is a geometric sans-serif
Sans-serif
In typography, a sans-serif, sans serif or san serif typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without"....
typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
designed by Aldo Novarese
Aldo Novarese
Aldo Novarese was an Italian type designer who lived and worked mostly in Turin where he produced an impressive number of unique designs.-Training and Career:...
in 1962. Novarese originally made Eurostile for one of the best-known Italian foundries
Type foundry
A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...
, Nebiolo
Nebiolo Printech
Nebiolo Printech S.p.A. is a manufacturer of printing presses and paper and formerly a type foundry. Nebiolo & Co. was created when Giovanni Nebiolo bought out the type foundry of G. Narizzano in Turin, Italy in 1852. In 1908 the company merged with the Urania Company and operated under the name...
, in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
.
Novarese developed Eurostile because although the similar Microgramma, which he had also designed, came with a variety of weights, it had only upper-case letters. A decade after he had designed Microgramma, Novarese remedied this flaw with his design of Eurostile, which added lower-case letters, a bold condensed variant, and an ultra narrow design he called Eurostile Compact, for a total of seven fonts.
Characteristics
Eurostile is a popular display font. Its linear nature suggests modern architectureModern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
, with an appeal both technical and functional. The squarish shapes with their rounded corners evoke the appearance of television screens of the 1950s and 1960s. As such, it has found some popularity in contemporary graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, as well as in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel and film artwork.
URW version
In the URW version, there are also Greek, Cyrillic, subscript and superscript, box drawing characters. The family has 16 fonts in five weights and three widths, with condensed fonts on regular and heavy weights; extended fonts on regular and black weights; complementary oblique fonts on black, bold, heavy, heavy condensed, medium, regular, regular condensed.Eurostile DisCaps
Eurostile DisCaps is a small caps version of the font. The family comes with one width in regular and bold weights, without obliques.Eurostile Stencil
Eurostile Stencil is a stencil font based on URW's Eurostile black extended (D), designed by Achaz Reuss.Linotype version
Linotype began distributing Eurostile decades ago, and during the early 1980s, it worked together with Adobe to digitize the fonts in PostScriptPostScript
PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging...
format. During the digitization process, the super curves were flattened.
Although the font family is based on the Microgramma font, some of the characters do not follow the styling of the family. These characters include non-letter characters like integral, infinity, pilcrow; letterlike symbols like @, copyright mark, registration mark; and accents such as cedilla and the tilde.
The family includes ten fonts in three weights and three widths. Condensed and Extended fonts do not have oblique or demi weight counterparts. It supports ISO Adobe 2 character sets.
Eurostile LT
Eurostile LT is a variant of Eurostile by Linotype. It uses squarer designs for non-letter characters like integral, infinity, pilcrow; letterlike symbols like @, the copyright mark, the registration mark; and accents such as cedilla and the tilde. However, the circle in circled letters (@, Ω) remained circular, which was not fixed until Eurostile Next. The asterisk was redesigned to use six points instead of five.In all, the family includes 11 fonts, adding an Outline Bold font to the original Eurostile family by Linotype. It supports ISO Adobe 2,Adobe CE, Latin extended character sets.
Square 721
The Square 721 font from Bitstream is very similar to Eurostile although its proportions are slightly different. Square 721 is available in 2 weights and 3 widths each.Europe
Europe is a variant of Eurostile with designed at TypeMarket in 1992–1993 by Alexey Kustov. The family includes 16 fonts, adding Shadow Demi, Shadow Oblique, and the missing oblique counterparts to the original Linotype family. It supports Cyrillic characters.Availability
Eurostile and Eurostile Bold (URW versions) were distributed with Microsoft Office 97Microsoft Office 97
Microsoft Office 97 was a major milestone release of Microsoft Office, which included hundreds of new features and improvements, introduced "Command Bars", a paradigm in which menus and toolbars were made more similar in capability and visual design featured natural language systems and...
, Microsoft Works 2002, Microsoft Home Publishing 99, Microsoft TrueType
TrueType
TrueType is an outline font standard originally developed by Apple Computer in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobe's Type 1 fonts used in PostScript...
Font Pack 2. Electronic versions of these and all other Eurostile typefaces can also be purchased on-line directly from Linotype GmbH and URW in several systems, including OpenType, TrueType and PostScript.
Music Industry
Eurostile Extended has been used extensively in the music industry, where it has featured in album cover artwork from U2U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Ash
Ash (band)
Ash are an alternative rock band that formed in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in 1992. The band has sold 8 million albums worldwide.-Band beginning, Trailer and 1977 :...
, The Supernaturals
The Supernaturals
The Supernaturals were a five-piece guitar based pop band from Glasgow, Scotland. Fronted by singer-songwriter James McColl, they signed to Parlophone in 1996, and had a string of singles which were taken from their three albums and four EPs. Other members included Mark Guthrie, Derek McManus and...
, Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
, Pendulum
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position...
, and several dance compilations from Warner. Eurostile Extended 2 can also be seen in the cover artwork for Marilyn Manson's 1998 album Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals is the third full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on September 14, 1998, in Australia and on September 15, 1998, in the US, Germany and France through Nothing and Interscope Records and marked the beginning of the band's brief foray into...
. It was used by Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
on their first two albums, Westlife
Westlife (album)
Westlife is the Irish boyband Westlife's debut studio album. It was released on 1 November 1999 in the UK, and contains five singles - "Swear It Again", "If I Let You Go", "Flying Without Wings", the double A-side "I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun" and "Fool Again", all of which peaked at #1...
and Coast to Coast, and is currently used by Argentine Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band Bandana & electrotango band Tanghetto
Tanghetto
Tanghetto is a musical group based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and one of the most important on the neo tango scene.The style of Tanghetto is a blend of tango and electronic music. Formed in 2001 by producer and composer/songwriter Max Masri . Then Max Masri asked guitarist and composer Diego S...
as complementary typography to the band's logo.
Television
Variations of Eurostile are popular in television. Doctor WhoDoctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
used the font for the credits during the Second Doctor
Second Doctor
The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton....
era (1966 to 1969, with Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
in the lead role), and again in cast and crew titles from 1987 to 1989. The BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
holding slides from 1976-83 were in Eurostile. Eurostile Bold Condensed was used in the later logo of the TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
news programme Coast to Coast. It was also used for Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
's idents from 1969 to 1989. Eurostile—and the Microgramma Extended Bold font on which it is based—was the primary font used in the science fiction series UFO
UFO (TV series)
UFO is a 1970-1971 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth, created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.UFO first aired in the UK and Canada...
, created by Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
in 1969. All of the vehicles and clothing bearing the logo of the series' secret organisation SHADO
Shado
Shado is a fictional archer published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1 , and was created by Mike Grell.-Childhood:...
used the font, in addition to the main titles. Eurostile was also used in the title of television shows such as Ironside
Ironside
-Entertainment and literature:*Ironside , an American television series starring Raymond Burr*Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale, an urban fantasy novel by Holly Black-People:...
, Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
, Star Trek Enterprise and can be found in several video games such as Homeworld
Homeworld
Homeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...
, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is a tactical shooter video game developed by Red Storm Entertainment, a Ubisoft subsidiary, and published by Ubisoft in 2001 for the PC. It was ported to the Mac, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2002 and to the GameCube in 2003...
, Tekken, Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a series of stealth video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels. The protagonist, Sam Fisher, is presented as a highly-trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA, dubbed "Third Echelon"...
, and Driv3r.
Sports television, in particular, has made significant use of Eurostile; Fox Sports
Fox Sports (USA)
Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
, NFL Network
NFL Network
NFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...
, Comcast Sportsnet
Comcast SportsNet
Comcast SportsNet is a group of regional sports networks in the United States primarily owned by the Comcast cable television company....
and Versus
Versus (TV channel)
Versus is a sports-oriented cable television channel in the United States. It was previously known as Outdoor Life Network and was launched on July 1, 1995, focusing on fishing, hunting, and other outdoor sports...
all use or have used the font for its on-screen information, with Comcast Sportsnet, Versus and Speed (a Fox Sports-owned channel) using it as recently as late 2011. As of fall 2011, Eurostile is not currently used by any nationwide sports broadcaster, having been superseded by other, narrower typefaces.
Fashion
Eurostile can also be seen in the fashion world, as it is the font type for the widely known (and commonly mis-interpreted) clothing company fcukFrench Connection (clothing)
French Connection is a retailer and wholesaler of fashion clothing and accessories. Founded in 1972 by Stephen Marks it is based in London, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and operates globally....
, or French Connection — United Kingdom. It is also the corporate branding for French Printemps department store
Printemps
Printemps is a French department store .The flagship Printemps store is located on Boulevard Haussmann in the IXe arrondissement of Paris along with other well-known department stores like Galeries Lafayette. There are other Printemps stores in Paris and throughout France...
chain.
Automobiles
Eurostile is also used on most FIA GT cars for the car numbers. It is also often used on the sides of British police vehicles for signwriting. Eurostile Bold was the typeface of choice for the instruments in the majority of Volkswagen's passenger cars from the introduction of the mk2 Golf to approximately halfway through the production run of the mk3.Logos
Eurostile is a corporate branding font for ToshibaToshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
and Diadora
Diadora
Diadora is an Italian football, tennis, running, cycling, rugby, athletic shoe, clothing, and fashion accessory manufacturer with locations in Italy, the United States, and Hong Kong.-History:...
. The retail version was authorized by Toshiba Europe GmbH to URW, where Eurostile Black OT was sold. Eurostile Extended Bold is used in the CASIO
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
and Roland Corporation
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
JUNO logos. Eurostile is also used for the logo of Colgan Air
Colgan Air
Colgan Air, Inc. is an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air are located in Memphis, Tennessee....
, Roadcycling.com, Roadcycling.mobi, and the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
. The NBA's San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
use Eurostile in their logos.
Video games
Eurostile Extended 2 is used as the cutscene subtitles in the Star Wars videogames, The Force UnleashedStar Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a multimedia project developed by LucasArts along with Dark Horse Comics, Lego, Hasbro, and Del Rey Books...
and The Force Unleashed 2
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is LucasArts' sequel to 2008's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game. A trailer announcing the game was shown December 12, 2009, at the Spike Video Game Awards. The game was released across multiple platforms in October 2010, along with a collectors edition of...
. Eurostile is also used in the title of the game Homeworld
Homeworld
Homeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...
and Homeworld 2
Homeworld 2
Developed by Relic Entertainment and released in 2003 by now defunct publisher Sierra Entertainment, Homeworld 2 is a real-time strategy computer game sequel to Homeworld. It takes place after the events in Homeworld and concerns Hiigara's response to a new enemy called the Vaygr. Its gameplay...
. The StarCraft
StarCraft (series)
StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series centers on a galactic struggle for dominance between three species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the insectoid Zerg, and the enigmatic Protoss—in a...
series also use Eurostile.
Eurostile was used in Deus Ex: Human Revolution as the main font style of the game, including the Picus Network tablet papers.
In recent installments of Ratchet & Clank
Ratchet & Clank
Ratchet & Clank is a 3D platformer/shooter video game for the PlayStation 2, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Released in 2002, it is the first game in the Ratchet & Clank series....
, Eurostile is used for most of the text in the game.