The Tube gets new font to incorporate hashtags because unfortunately that’s necessary

Its first change in 100 years of service

The new font on the London Underground logo

After 100 years of pleasing commuters with rhombus-dotted 'i's, the font used for London Underground signage is changing.

Global type company Monotype has overhauled the iconic Johnston font, to allow # and @ symbols that Edward Johnston couldn’t possibly have predicted when he created the original typography in 1916 (and probably would have led him to weep if he had).

Don’t worry, though, the new version is almost exactly the same as the old, as evidenced below:

“The Johnston typeface speaks of London like no other. It has been around 100 years. It will be around 100 more years if not longer,” said Jon Hunter, TfL Head of Design, “We just want to make sure it’s used consistently across all our branding and across all future branding platforms we may have, so we asked Monotype to go back to the original principles of Johnston, and create a digital typeface using the DNA of its truly iconic predecessor.

“As social media has become more important, hashtags and at signs are more important – Johnston never designed those because they were never needed.”

Monotype Type Director Nadine Chahine added: “The philosophy of the Johnston design is consistent and versatile enough that it could sustain all of the different fashions and use cases that have come in the last 100 years.

The tiny change is reminiscent of the new logo Google unveiled in 2014, which saw its second ‘g’ moved one pixel to the right and its ‘l’ one down.

(via Evening Standard)