First time here? Maybe read the FAQ.
x
Site Updates
  • Sep 2024 — kthomps5 gets promotion to Moderator!
  • 7 Dec 2023 — Bug fix: now anyone can access the monthly top scores.
  • 1 Sep 2023 — Monthly top scores now listed
  • 6 Jul 2023 — Get points for comment upvotes.

RSS Feeds
Other ID Resources
When It’s Not a Font
See Also
hqdefault-2.jpg
It isn't Helvetica or Arial. Might be a none digitized font. Image is slightly warped, so there's a curve
asked by (139 points)
+1
Is this from Japan, by any chance? It looks like one of those relatively generic Latin sans serifs with rounded terminals that are included in Japanese Maru Gothic fonts.

2 Answers

+2 votes
 
Best answer

Warning: Very long answer ahead. I went into this without knowing there's so much to unpack, but it's also an interesting research.

 

I tried tracking the typeface based on the Japanese version of the disk turtle screen, and have managed to find a typeface called Naru / NAR by Yukihiro Nakamura.

 

 

It has all the qualities seen in its Latin characters as the English disk turtle screen, except for the fact that the text on the screen is more condensed. I have yet to find a condensed version of Naru, so this text may perhaps be artificially narrowed.

 

Naru was owned by the now-defunct Sha-ken type foundry. Although they have digitised their typefaces before, it was bound within their own company software, without any further development to PostScript. Despite Sha-ken’s previous promise to finally transition to OpenType in 2011, it didn't come to fruition. 

 

In recent updates, however, Sha-ken’s fonts are finally getting the OpenType revival with the help of Morisawa, who was once a competing company with Sha-ken in the phototype era. It was only earlier this year that they announced certain revivals of classic Sha-ken's typefaces, including the ‘EL / E’ weight* of Naru.

 

*Based on the showcase of fonts they are first reviving, the EL / E in this case may be referring to the original hairline/extralight style that Nakamura first submitted to Sha-ken.


It's also nice that there is now a website of Sha-ken’s type specimen archive, where you can view the various weights of Naru as well.

answered by Apprentice (863 points)
selected by
0
stone cold Icing investigation!
0 votes

Agree with Florian. The basis is Helvetica, but the beardless 'G' is an outlier. You can get something like this in FF Schulbuch Süd.

answered by Moderator (12k points)
...