Fonts for station IDs?

[Joseph W. bourke]

My first response would be to make sure that you use whichever key fonts are part of the station design package, or “look”, as we call it here at WMUR-TV. We use Bell Gothic Black as the main typeface for such things as the position line statement and titling on main opens, then we use Alternate Gothic #3 as a secondary typeface for all of our CGs, sub-headlines, full screens, etc..

That said, if you’ve got some freedom, go with any sans-serif typeface that looks good with what you’re working with: examples might be Frutiger, Optima, Gill Sans, Avant Garde, Arial, Futura, Univers, or Helvetica variations. I know that when we do our top of the hour IDs, we always use the typefaces that are part of the package; we tend to stick to the “corporate” look so that we’re immediately recognizable on air. When you stray from the main family of fonts used in your station look, you immediately start to water it down.

Bear in mind that I’m the Art Director here, so it’s my job to be the “Graphics Police”, and ride herd on our look. I tend to stick to what we’ve got, as much as I’d often prefer to loosen up the look. Hope this helps.

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Jean Hauptman]

You do need to stick with station fonts for consistency. A sneakaround is to use a lower 3rd or letter box, then use anything from Glue to Intergalactic within. A font I’ve liked lately for promo is House Gothic HG23 Condensed bold.
https://mangoinc.com/house_font.jpg

[Michael]

That looks a lot like eurostile or microgramma too…. (I’ve worked at 2 stations using a typeface like that…)