Chicago (font) - Definition

Chicago is a sans-serif font designed by Susan Kare for Apple Computer. It was used in the Macintosh operating system user interface between 1984 and 1997 and was an important part of Apple's brand identity. It is also used in the iPod user interface. While initially a bitmap font, Apple commissioned the type foundry Bigelow & Holmes to create a TrueType version, as the OS' capabilities improved. The typeface is, of course, named after the United States city of Chicago, Illinois.

German versions of System 7.x had a different rendering of Chicago. The "w" had two dips instead of one at the end of the letter, and the "I" (capital "i") appeared more like a column than a vertical line. A mix of this and the original Chicago is used in the iPod.

In Mac OS 8, Charcoal replaced Chicago as the default system font. Chicago continued to be distributed as a standard component of the system, and Apple even urged developers to keep designing user interfaces for the Chicago typeface, since the new alternate fonts used the Chicago metrics as a foundation.

Chicago was also used in Apple marketing materials. It was also common to find this font in early amateur desktop publishing productions, since it was available as part of the system. While Apple gravitated away from Chicago following the adoption of Charcoal as part of the platinum theme in Mac OS, it was later revived in the user interface for the iPod music player.

Chicago is a registered trademark ("typeface fonts recorded on computer software"), belonging to Apple since August 1996.

It was heavily used by The Designers republic, especially on many IDM music covers.

Sample

The following paragraph will be displayed in Chicago if it is installed on your machine. If not, a monospace font is used:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. 这是一些汉字。 Nà shì yì xiē Hànzì. Example of IPA transcription: /ɪg'zɑːmpəl əv aɪpiː'eɪ tɹɑːn'skɹɪpʃən/. Ελληνικά. Кириллица.

See also

• Apple typography

References

• USPTO record for CHICAGO trademark (http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/jumpto?f=doc&state=gnqtnt.13.347)
• Susan Kare. World Class Cities (http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=World_Class_Cities.txt). Retrieved September 21, 2004.
• MyFonts. Chicago font family (http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/apple/chicago/). Retrieved September 21, 2004.
• Apple Computer, Inc. Human Interface Guidelines for Mac OS 8 (http://developer.apple.com/documentation/mac/HIGOS8Guide/thig-8.html). Retrieved September 21, 2004