Bliss on the University of Worcester logo.
Bliss on the London G20 summit logo.

Bliss is a humanist sans-serif typeface family designed by Jeremy Tankard.[1][2][3][4]

Bliss is a design in the British humanist style, based on the Johnston typeface of London Underground as well as Gill Sans and Syntax, but with a more uniform style with greater evenness and similarity between weights.[5][6][7][8] Tankard added some asymmetries to break from a purely geometric structure, such as sheared cuts on the capital 'E' and 'T'.[9]

Describing it, Tankard wrote that "forms were chosen for their simplicity, legibility, and ‘Englishness’, and that his goal was to create "the first commercial typeface with an English feel since Gill Sans."[10][11]

As of 2018, Bliss is used as a corporate font by the universities of Worcester, Bath Spa and Solent, United World Colleges, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Dignity Health, and the HADOPI institute, and by Edexcel.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In Canada, this font is also used in the logo of WestJet[19] and Scouts Canada.[20]

References

  1. ^ Palmieri, Chris. "Facetime 2: Type Designer Jeremy Tankard on Bliss". AQ Works. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  2. ^ Coles, Stephen. "Questioning Gill Sans". Typographica. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  3. ^ "The Disturbing World of Jeremy Tankard". Kingston Publishing. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  4. ^ King, Emily. "Digital Type Decade". Eye magazine. Retrieved 1 August 2016. Tankard's most visible face is the sans serif Bliss (British Midland Airways, Foxton's estate agent). The Bliss typeface is the outcome of the assessment of five sans serif faces: Gill Sans; Syntax; Frutiger; Edward Johnston's Underground typeface and Kinneir and Calvert's Transport typeface (see Eye no. 34 vol. 9). The result is a design that answered the current quest for 'a new simplicity'. It is a face that seems straightforward because it is imbued with so much that we already know.
  5. ^ Archer, Ben. "Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans". Typotheque. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  6. ^ Alastair Campbell; Alistair Dabbs (1 February 2014). Pocket Essentials: Typography: The History and Principles of the Art. Octopus. p. 387. ISBN 978-1-78157-155-2.
  7. ^ Berry, John. "A small book of typefaces". CreativePro. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  8. ^ Hill, Will (2005). The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River: Person Prentice Hall. ISBN 9780131344457.
  9. ^ Tankard, Jeremy. "Originals – Bliss". Studiotype. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  10. ^ Tankard, Jeremy. "Bliss Pro". Jeremy Tankard Typography. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  11. ^ Neil Macmillan (2006). An A-Z of Type Designers. Laurence King Publishing. pp. 26–7. ISBN 978-1-85669-395-0.
  12. ^ "Typography". Bath Spa University. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  13. ^ "Logo". Arts & Humanities Research Council. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  14. ^ "Identity Guidelines for the University of Worcester" (PDF). University of Worcester. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Think London campaign". Fonts in Use. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  16. ^ "With Copyright Protectors Like These, who Needs Enemies?". Brand New. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  17. ^ "Branding Toolkit" (PDF). United World Colleges. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  18. ^ "We Change Worlds: Brand Guidelines" (PDF). Solent University. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  19. ^ "Canadian Airline WestJet Unveils New Logo and Livery Design". Logo Designer. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  20. ^ "Brand Guidelines". www.scouts.ca. Scouts Canada. Retrieved 18 October 2020.

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