Broadway (typeface)

Broadway
CategorySans Serif
ClassificationDisplay
DesignerMorris Fuller Benton
Commissioned byAmerican Type Founders
FoundryAmerican Type Founders
Date created1927
Date released1928
Re-issuing foundriesLinotype, Elsner+Flake, Monotype, Bitstream, URW++

Broadway is a decorative typeface, perhaps the archetypal Art Deco typeface. The original face was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1927 for American Type Founders as a capitals-only display face. It had a long initial run of popularity, before being discontinued by ATF in 1954. It was re-discovered in the cold type era and has ever since been used to evoke the feeling of the 1920s and 1930s. The font has been used in the TV shows Rhoda, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Miami Vice. Several variants were made:[1]

Digital versions

Digital versions are now made by Linotype, Elsner+Flake, Monotype, Bitstream, and URW++. Similar fonts, such as ITC Manhattan and Glitzy are sold by ITC and Ingrimayne Type respectively.

References

  1. ^ MacGrew, Mac, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, ISBN 0-938768-34-4, pp. 50–51.