Grotesque Sans-serif vs Trade Gothic

Trade Gothic evolved from Grotesque Sans-serif.

Type specimen — Grotesque Sans-serif (Sans-serif family); set in Archivo (OFL)

Grotesque Sans-serif

The first family of sans-serif type — the blunt, slightly irregular nineteenth-century 'grotesques' that gave Victorian advertising its loud display voice. Sturdy and a touch awkward, they are the ancestral stock from which every later sans descends.

  • Low but perceptible stroke contrast, not fully monoline
  • Squared-off, slightly compressed curves
  • Modest, often closed aperture on c, e, a, s
  • Capitals of visibly uneven width and a slight irregularity
  • Spurred capital G, frequently with a double-story g
Full Grotesque Sans-serif guide →
Type specimen — Trade Gothic (Grotesque sans); shown in Oswald, a close match (OFL)

Trade Gothic

Jackson Burke's 1948 Linotype grotesque — a clean, slightly condensed American Gothic prized for newspaper and advertising work, especially its punchy Bold Condensed No. 20.

  • Slightly condensed, economical proportions
  • Modest stroke contrast, plainspoken forms
  • Double-story a and double-story g
  • Strong, much-used Bold Condensed No. 20
  • Family of mixed, non-systematic weights
Full Trade Gothic guide →

At a glance

Grotesque Sans-serifTrade Gothic
Era1810s–1900s1948
DisciplineTypographyTypography
RegionEngland, Germany, United StatesUnited States
FamilySans-serifSans-serif
Formal traitsgrotesque, low-contrast, closed-aperture, double-story-ggrotesque, gothic, condensed, double-story-g

More comparisons

Advertisement