Charcoal is a sans-serif typeface designed by David Berlow of Font Bureau during the period 1994–1997. Charcoal was the default menu font in Apple Computer's Mac OS 8 and 9, replacing the comparatively harder-to-read Chicago as part of the new Platinum interface. In Mac OS X developer preview 3, it was replaced with Lucida Grande as the system typeface. Charcoal is designed for high legibility, even at smaller point sizes, displayed on computer monitors.

Charcoal
CategorySans-serif
Designer(s)David Berlow
Commissioned byApple Computer
FoundryFont Bureau
Date created1995
Design based onChicago font
VariationsVirtue
Truth
Charcoal CY

While similar in design to grotesque sans-serifs, Charcoal has a distinctive organic quality. The letterforms have a high x-height, a vertical axis, and maintain generous counter-form in and around the letterforms. Descending characters, g, j, p, q, and y are shallow, compensating for the high x-height, and allowing for reduced leading in text. While designed primarily for monitor display, Charcoal has had considerable popularity in print, including in letterpress printing.

Virtue is a free TrueType font of similar design sometimes used as a surrogate on non-Apple systems.

Truth

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Truth, an expanded Charcoal family, is sold by Font Bureau, designed by David Berlow, and was released in 2005. It contains small differences from Charcoal, and is available in seven weights: Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black, and Ultra.

References

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  • Friedrich Friedl; Nicolaus Ott; Bernard Stein (1998). Typography: an Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History. Black Dog & Leventhal. ISBN 1-57912-023-7.
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