Nickel Gothic
David Jonathan Ross · David Jonathan Ross
A blocky, squared display sans derived from lettering on a 1918 Chinese banknote, spanning Compressed to Wide with oblique and backslant variants across a variable axis.
About
Designed by David Jonathan Ross with additional drawing by Bea Korsh, the typeface takes its structural cue from century-old banknote lettering while carrying overtones of mid-century squared sans serifs like Eurostile and 1970s gothics like Serpentine. Its defining quirk is flat tops and bottoms rather than the flat sides common in condensed sans serifs, with weighted interior corners that give each letterform a planted, immovable quality. Fourteen static styles run from Compressed to Wide with oblique cuts throughout, backed by a variable font with Width and Slant axes and support for Latin, Cyrillic and Greek.
Classification
A squarish, blocky display sans with flat tops and bottoms and stadium-like interiors, drawing on squared gothic and mid-century sans traditions; classified as display due to its high-impact, headline-oriented construction across a wide axis range.