Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan at Gizmodo:
Apple, Trapper Keeper, and Reebok: Three of the most well-known brands of the 1980s, and three companies that used the same futuristic-looking typeface to do it. So why isn’t the typeface a classic like other period pieces coughHelveticacough? Fate is a funny thing.
Today Fonts In Use and BrandNew point out the odd case of Motter Tektura, a typeface created in 1975 by the Austrian designer Othmar Motter, who died in 2010. If you were alive in the late 1970s or 80s, you’ll recognize it as the former font used in Apple’s early logos, as well as those of Trapper Keeper and Reebok—which kept it in use well into contemporary times.
While I have a couple of computers floating around that are graced with Motter Tektura, I had no idea that it was used by other brands until reading these links.
As Gizmodo points out, Tektura is more or less a lost font, as there’s no authorized digital version of the typeface. This is the case with many older Apple-related typefaces.
To read more about fonts used by Apple over the years, check out this list of links:
- Wikipedia: Typography of Apple Inc.
- Wikipedia: List of Apple Typefaces
- Wikipedia: Fonts on Macintosh
- Wikipedia: List of typefaces included with OS X
With iOS and now OS X Yosemite, Apple is turning to Helvetica Neue more and more for its interfaces. While beautiful, it’s a tad boring after revisiting these old typefaces.