4 ms·

I was puzzled at why IBM would be designing fonts of all things. Then I remembered they started out as a typewriter company and it somehow all just made sense.

mark-r 5y ago
Lots of large companies do their own fonts. Not only does it allow them to get a unique branding look, but it can be cheaper than getting and keeping all the necessary licenses for an existing font. Generally the actual font design is farmed out to another company that does that sort of thing for a living.
ffhhj 5y ago
Wait for the new design of punchcards, spoliers: elliptical holes.
mrweasel 5y ago
It was a trends a few years ago, every company wanted their own custom font. It's a nice font though, and they are right, it is distinctly IBM, it looks like IBM.
reaperducer 5y ago
Then I remembered they started out as a typewriter company IBM made computing machines for 20 years before it entered the typewriter market.
bthrn 5y ago
Believe it or not, IBM's first product was actually a cheese slicer.
- kens 5y ago
  I don't believe it. In particular, IBM was formed by amalgamating various subsidiary companies, so there's no "first product". Even if you focus on the Computing Scale Company, I think their first product was a computing scale and the cheese slicer was later. That said, the IBM cheese cutter restoration video is very cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8VhNF_0I5c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8VhNF_0I5c
cormullion 5y ago
I recall (there’s a video by the font’s designer somewhere on YouTube) that IBM were paying over $1 million annually to license Helvetica, so one reason would be cost saving.
mgdlbp 5y ago
Fun fact: The typeface Courier (New) we know today from PCs (esp. Windows) is the most enduring of the fonts designed for IBM typewriters that were named after agent nouns related to communication: Adjutant, Advocate, Artisan, Courier, Delegate, Orator, Scribe.

mark-r 5y ago

Lots of large companies do their own fonts. Not only does it allow them to get a unique branding look, but it can be cheaper than getting and keeping all the necessary licenses for an existing font. Generally the actual font design is farmed out to another company that does that sort of thing for a living.

ffhhj 5y ago

Wait for the new design of punchcards, spoliers: elliptical holes.

mrweasel 5y ago

It was a trends a few years ago, every company wanted their own custom font. It's a nice font though, and they are right, it is distinctly IBM, it looks like IBM.

reaperducer 5y ago

Then I remembered they started out as a typewriter company IBM made computing machines for 20 years before it entered the typewriter market.

bthrn 5y ago

Believe it or not, IBM's first product was actually a cheese slicer.

kens 5y ago
I don't believe it. In particular, IBM was formed by amalgamating various subsidiary companies, so there's no "first product". Even if you focus on the Computing Scale Company, I think their first product was a computing scale and the cheese slicer was later. That said, the IBM cheese cutter restoration video is very cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8VhNF_0I5c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8VhNF_0I5c

cormullion 5y ago

I recall (there’s a video by the font’s designer somewhere on YouTube) that IBM were paying over $1 million annually to license Helvetica, so one reason would be cost saving.

mgdlbp 5y ago

Fun fact: The typeface Courier (New) we know today from PCs (esp. Windows) is the most enduring of the fonts designed for IBM typewriters that were named after agent nouns related to communication: Adjutant, Advocate, Artisan, Courier, Delegate, Orator, Scribe.