This is URW’s digitization of the famous font News Gothic, the realist sans-serif typeface designed by Morris Fuller Benton, and released by the American Type Founders (ATF) in 1908. (News Gothic is similar in proportion and structure to Benton’s famous Franklin Gothic.) The typeface differs from other realist sans-serifs with its less severe, more humanist tone. For much of the twentieth century News Gothic was used in newspaper and magazine publishing, and it is used in the logo of the Polaroid Corporation, but perhaps its most famous use was for the main body text of the Star Wars opening crawl. It was also used in Saul Bass’ opening title sequence for Hitchcock’s thriller, Psycho.
This font is very conservative on the surface, and it is nearly without equal in advertising and publishing situations, but when it is used in less traditional settings–fashion, art, design–it shows amazing versatility and power.
