August 31st, 2024

Routed Gothic Font

Routed Gothic is a font inspired by mid-20th century lettering, featuring slanted styles for a vintage look. It is free for non-commercial use and distributed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

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Routed Gothic Font

Routed Gothic is a font inspired by a common lettering style used in technical drawings, office signs, and vintage comic books from the mid-20th century. Created by Darren Embry, the font was developed using a Leroy Lettering set and traced with Inkscape, incorporating Python scripting in FontForge. The design features slanted "italic" styles at 22.5° and "half italic" at 11.25°, mimicking traditional drafting techniques. Routed Gothic is distributed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and covers a wide range of characters, including ASCII, ISO Latin 1, and various typographic symbols. The font is free for non-commercial use and is noted for its unique aesthetic, which some may find unattractive yet appealing. Other similar fonts include National Park, Planscribe NF, and Gorton, each offering variations in style and kerning. The font's design is rooted in historical engraving techniques, making it suitable for projects that require a vintage or technical appearance.

- Routed Gothic is inspired by mid-20th century lettering styles.

- The font is available under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

- It features slanted styles that reflect traditional drafting methods.

- The font is free for non-commercial use.

- Other similar fonts include National Park and Gorton.

AI: What people are saying
The comments on the Routed Gothic font reveal a mix of user experiences and opinions about its design and usability.
  • Users appreciate the vintage aesthetic and its application in various design projects, such as diagrams and business cards.
  • Some users mention challenges with font installation on macOS and suggest workarounds.
  • There are comparisons to other fonts, highlighting similarities and preferences among users.
  • Several comments express a fondness for preserving traditional typography in digital formats.
  • Questions arise regarding the use of the term "Gothic" in the font's name, prompting discussions about its relevance.
Link Icon 16 comments
By @sdoering - 7 months
I like those typefaces where people try to recreate/transpose/keep alive a quite physical impression into the digital realm.

I always think fondly about the font Brian [1] by Jon Hicks recreating his late father’s (I think architectural) writing.

[1]: https://hicks.design/shop/bryan

By @ivanjermakov - 7 months
I liked another font linked on this page even more:

National Park Typeface: https://nationalparktypeface.com/

And the website is really nice

By @indrora - 7 months
I used one of the linked fonts (Gorton digital) back when I was doing business cards for myself. That run of cards taught me two very important lessons:

* Always print a 1:1 bordered in black version of a design

* No matter how hard you try, you will notice some flaw in your design when you have already sent off an order for 100 of them.

By @arh68 - 7 months
Quite nice. Similar to B612.

> B612 is an highly legible open source font family designed and tested to be used on aircraft cockpit screens.

[1] https://b612-font.com/

By @sgt - 7 months
Heads up for macOS users - if you download it and click on install, it won't appear automatically in the font list as it isn't listed as an "English" font (assuming your OS language is that). It's under all other fonts. So just bring up the good old font selector ("Show fonts") and it will appear, as expected.
By @Rendello - 7 months
It looks best in all-caps, since that's what the diagrams that used the lettering sets used. You can get a good sense of how it looks with the Unicode table:

https://webonastick.com/fonts/routed-gothic/unicode-coverage...

By @hlandau - 7 months
Very nice!

Not free, but the "Technic", "Simplex" and "ISOCP" fonts included with AutoCAD are also of this aesthetic, if people want an exhaustive list of candidates.

By @paulstovell - 7 months
Thank you for this, it's brilliant! I have spent days drawing the wiring diagram for a modified 1961 MG MGA using LucidChart. The fonts available just didn't look great. I uploaded Routed Gothic and now it looks very natural and original. Great work on the font!
By @object-a - 7 months
Comic Sans (non-derogatory) for engineers
By @flobosg - 7 months
The Hershey fonts come to mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_fonts
By @atoav - 7 months
Feels ever so slightly too bold to me, but maybe that is just my personal taste..

Other than that it is great to live in a time where people go to old typography and try to preserve our draw inspiration from it.

By @elevaet - 7 months
This reminds me of the font Roland used on their 80s synth service manual schematics. Maybe it's the same?
By @ForOldHack - 7 months
Always a sucker for a new font, but this one is great. New Programming/CLI font. Thanks
By @soggypretzels - 7 months
See also nationalparktypeface.com which has a similar asthetic and motivation.
By @einpoklum - 7 months
In what sense is this font "Gothic"?

There are Gothic people, there's the Gothic language and the Gothic alphabet...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_alphabet

... but that doesn't sound relevant.