Greatest fonts countdown: 74 - Bank Gothic

FontShop AG, the renowned type foundry, conducted a survey based on historical relevance, sales at FontShop.com, and aesthetic quality. With a few additions from the experts at Creative Bloq and Computer Arts magazine, the best fonts ever were selected for the new book, 100 Best Typefaces Ever.

Here we are counting down the 100 greatest fonts, but you can read interviews with some of the typefaces' creators, a brief history of type, the anatomy of a font, and much, much more in the book – find out how to get your copy in print or digital formats at the foot of this post.

But without further ado, here is the 74th best typeface…

74. Bank Gothic

• Morris Fuller Benton, 1930

Not even the great Morris Fuller Benton could resist the temptation to construct a square typeface. Georg Trump had led the way with the Berthold City typeface in 1930 and this was followed by Aldo Novarese (33 Eurostile, 1962) and most recently – with great consistency – Achaz Reuss (FF QType, 2004) and Christian Schwartz (FF Oxide, 2005).

Morris Fuller Benton took inspiration from a late-19th-century gravestone, whose inscription he recorded by taking a rubbing. He created Bank Gothic as a typeface made exclusively of small capitals. In February 2007, Linotype released a wonderfully reinterpreted and expanded version of Bank Gothic – Morris Sans – designed by Dan Reynolds under type director Akira Kobayashi. For the first time, the geometric typeface was available in three weights and two widths, with a lowercase and a huge number of extras. The new typeface takes its name from its original inventor.

The 100 Best Typefaces Ever

This is an extract from The 100 Best Typefaces Ever, the definitive guide to the greatest fonts ever created, in association with FontShop AG. Over 180 premium pages, the book dissects the world's greatest typefaces, bringing you some insightful background on each and interviews with their creators.

You can pick up the book at all good newsagents today or order it online. Or you can download a digital edition directly to your iPad from the Computer Arts app on iTunes.