Original Prints for the Ride. / Jamie Lawson artwork + design / Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans by Ben Archer. Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans by Ben Archer This article is intended for an audience of contemporary designers and students who are at least one step removed from mid-century British typographic culture; it is a critique of the Gill Sans typeface and the idiosyncrasies of its creation from a contemporary perspective.
The central argument is that an earlier typeface by Eric Gill’s mentor, Edward Johnston, is a superior piece of type design. Gill Sans: Pride of England? Gill Sans is the Helvetica of England; ubiquitous, utilitarian and yet also quite specific in its ability to point to our notions of time and place. Thinking with Type, 2nd Edition: Sample Pages.