Univers is a large sans-serif typeface family designed by Adrian Frutiger and released by his employer Deberny & Peignot in 1957. Classified as a neo-grotesque sans-serif, one based on the model of nineteenth-century German typefaces such as Akzidenz-Grotesk, it was notable for its availability from the moment of its launch in a comprehensive range of weights and widths. The original marketing for Univers deliberately referenced the periodic table to emphasise its scope.
Keycaps featuring Univers from a pre-2003 PowerBook G4
Univers 57 (Condensed Regular) in use in the Latin text at Athens Airport
Audi Sans, a variation of Univers used in the dashboard graphics of an Audi A3 instrument panel
Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards.
An early version of Johnston on a London Underground metal sign. Johnston's design was rendered variably on some older signs, and this uses a condensed "R" and four-terminal "W".
The gloomy, ultra-bold sans-serifs of the Figgins foundry. Gill and Johnston sought to create sans-serif designs that were modern and not as bold as these. Gill argued in his Essay on Typography that such closed-up forms were counterproductively bold, less legible than lighter fonts of normal proportions.
Some of Gill's original art for Gill Sans, showing the original "Q", punctuation and two manicules