Font ID Help Please, Almost thinking it's two different block-type fonts.

[GeorgiaLemon]

Need help please in determining which font this is. I can find similar block type(s), but the "B" (as an example) is VERY much "squatty-er"/wider and the apostrophe doesn't seem to match any others. Leads me to believe I have two different fonts here, but any help would be awesome!!!

Many Thanks!

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Futura
Unfortunately there are very slight to dramatic differences between many of the various versions available and one never knows what was done by the user.

 

[GeorgiaLemon]

I'm learning more and more every day. I've literally gone in and manually scaled and measured each letter with my slide rule/calipers. It's been painful. But the good new is that I've replicated everything except for the "S". If I can get any input on that stinking "S", I can complete this amazing opportunity to learn (read: fiasco).

Thanks for the input!

 

[unclebun]

On my computer the closest font is Futura LT Pro Book Bold. The BEM is spot-on, but the A is a little wider. The terminals of the S are at slightly different angles. The apostrophe is a "straight" apostrophe rather than a "curly" one, and appears to have been sized down.

 

[Fred Weiss]

The apostrophe is a "straight" apostrophe rather than a "curly" one, and appears to have been sized down.

The "curly" apostrophe is accessed as an alternate character on most fonts ... Alt +0146 from the numeric keypad.

 

[Bobby H]

There are several different cuts of Futura out there from different foundries (Linotype, Bitstream, URW, ParaType, Tilde, Neufville, Elsner+Flake, Scangraphic, etc). Then there's variants of Futura, like Futura Maxi from Monotype or Futura Next from Neufville Digital. None of these cuts are identical or interchangeable. There's lots of subtle differences. Those differences can be a real PITA if you're having to do something like replace a cracked channel letter face and you don't have the original art files to create a replacement face. If it doesn't line up with the versions of Futura you have in your own font collection you'll be stuck having to create a pattern as best as you can from the cracked face and manually saw or rout out a replacement.

Let's not forget the truly aggravating, amateur-hour, hack, vomit problem of countless numbers of sign people squeezing and stretching fonts when they have no business doing that awful looking garbage. Aside from the hack amateur look of things that comes about from distorting fonts it creates all sorts of work flow problems for service work. When some idiot manually squeezes or stretches the letters on something like a channel letter sign design it really won't matter if you have the exact same typeface in your own collection. You have to guess the exact level of squeeze or stretch that was doofus-applied to the letter forms. In the end it's just faster making a pattern of the damaged letter and creating a replacement that way.

Custom designed lettering and glyphs, even something like an altered Futura apostrophe, will pose similar problems for replacement graphics or letter faces. You need the original art files for an exact match. I won't fault someone for creating a custom lettered sign from scratch, especially from his own hand lettering or hand digitized files. That's a good thing. But I can't do anything but have complete disdain and even hatred for this awful habit of squeezing and stretching fonts. And when a sign guy is squeezing and stretching Arial I'm thinking that hack just needs to go do a different job for a living. He's literally dropping his drawers and taking a dump on the graphic design profession when he does that nasty garbage.

 

[GeorgiaLemon]

PITA indeed. I truly appreciate the input and help everyone.

Bobby H, do you freelance tyraids or passionate rants!? You articulated EXACTLY how I feel in the best formed summary I've ever seen.

 

[Bobby H]

I'm passionate about a few subjects. For instance, I could go on and on about movie theater technology and the good and bad of digital cinema. But I make my living doing sign design. My passion there runs on multiple levels. It's more complicated than a hobby or being passionate about a subject like politics. It's kind of personal really. When I see the proliferation of bad sign design out there I feel almost personally insulted by it. I consider what I do for a living as a profession. But seeing some of the dreck that litters the commercial landscape, I feel like anyone could get and keep a job as a sign designer these days. It's as if actual qualifications and talent aren't needed. I try to do as consistently a good job as possible in my work. Most bad sign designs I see appear rushed out, quick and dirty, as if the "designer" is whipping out an order of fries at a fast food joint.

I'm not asking for sign people to be "artsy fartsy" either. This is about just basic competence, knowing and following basic rules of graphic design. I think there's a fairly large contingent of people in the sign industry who design crappy looking signs on purpose. They've always done it that way and aren't going to change over any complaints. They're probably not going to go out of their way to learn anything new either.

I still try to be proud of what I do for a living. With all the bad design out there being generated by "colleagues" I can't help but feel a little embarrassed to say I work for a sign company.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Those letterforms can be drawn in Illustrator in about 10 minutes. It is a form of Futura - I would start there and adjust as needed using the original as a background layer.

My go-to for font ID is "What the font". ( www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/ ). They have a really good identification program, and if that fails, a wonderful active forum of type junkies that will usually sort out anything you can throw at them. It's a fun forum, and you can contribute if you have the time and inclination. Saved my ass many times!