Typeface · Sans-serif

Bell Gothic

Bell Gothic is a sans-serif typeface in the industrial or grotesque style, designed by Chauncey H. Griffith in 1938 while heading the typographic development program at the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.

About Bell Gothic

Bell Gothic is a sans-serif typeface in the industrial or grotesque style, designed by Chauncey H. Griffith in 1938 while heading the typographic development program at the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. The typeface was commissioned by AT&T as a proprietary typeface for use in telephone directories, and has since been made available for general licensing. Bell Gothic is designed for maximum legibility in the adverse conditions of small print on poor-quality newsprint paper, into which ink tends to absorb and spread out. It is therefore a popular font in printing at small sizes. AT&T replaced Bell Gothic with Matthew Carter's typeface Bell Centennial in 1978, the one-hundredth anniversary of AT&T's founding.

From the Wikipedia article “Bell Gothic”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Using Bell Gothic in a book

Sans-serif faces work well for headings, captions, children's books and modern nonfiction. For long-form body text in print, most designers still prefer a serif.

Commercial typefaces require a licence that covers embedding in PDFs and ebooks; check the foundry's licence before you publish.

Sources & data

Last posts

  1. Best Budget Booklet Staplers for Students and Their Projects
  2. Is a Swingline Long-Reach Stapler Reliable for Office Use
  3. Best Bostitch Staplers for Booklet Making and Binding
  4. Why Laminate Peels Off Toner and Which Films Actually Stick
  5. The Best Anti-Glare Matte Laminating Pouches for Clarity
  6. Are Rotating-Head Staplers Good for Booklets?
  7. Why Staples Fail to Close and When You Need a New Stapler
  8. Best A4 Laminating Pouches for Professional Covers
  9. Best Staplers for Cardstock Covers and Thick Paper Projects
  10. Staplers for 60-Page Booklets and How to Choose Them