Bliss (typeface)

{{Short description|Humanist sans-serif typeface}}

File:University of Worcester - Worcester Business School - Infirmary Walk, Worcester (20280455330).jpg logo.]]

File:2009 G-20 London Summit - 4342568178.jpg logo.]]

Bliss is a humanist sans-serif typeface family designed by Jeremy Tankard.{{cite web|last1=Palmieri|first1=Chris|title=Facetime 2: Type Designer Jeremy Tankard on Bliss|url=http://www.aqworks.com/en/blog/2007/07/27/facetime-2-type-designer-jeremy-tankard-on-bliss/|website=AQ Works|accessdate=1 August 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Coles|first1=Stephen|title=Questioning Gill Sans|url=http://typographica.org/2007/on-typography/questioning-gill-sans|website=Typographica|accessdate=18 December 2015}}{{cite web|title=The Disturbing World of Jeremy Tankard|url=https://kingstonpublishing.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/the-disturbing-world-of-type-designer-jeremy-tankard/|website=Kingston Publishing|accessdate=31 July 2016}}{{cite web|last1=King|first1=Emily|title=Digital Type Decade|url=http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/digital-type-decade-full-text|website=Eye magazine|quote=Tankard’s most visible face is the sans serif Bliss (British Midland Airways, Foxton’s estate agent). The Bliss typeface is the outcome of the assessment of five sans serif faces: Gill Sans; Syntax; Frutiger; Edward Johnston’s Underground typeface and Kinneir and Calvert’s Transport typeface (see Eye no. 34 vol. 9). The result is a design that answered the current quest for ‘a new simplicity’. It is a face that seems straightforward because it is imbued with so much that we already know.|accessdate=1 August 2016}}

Bliss is a design in the British humanist style, based on the Johnston typeface of London Underground as well as Gill Sans and Syntax, but with a more uniform style with greater evenness and similarity between weights.{{cite web|last=Archer|first=Ben |url=http://www.typotheque.com/articles/re-evaluation_of_gill_sans |title=Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans |website=Typotheque|date= |accessdate=7 January 2011}}{{cite book|author1=Alastair Campbell|author2=Alistair Dabbs|title=Pocket Essentials: Typography: The History and Principles of the Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9DDCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT387|date=1 February 2014|publisher=Octopus|isbn=978-1-78157-155-2|page=387}}{{cite web|last1=Berry|first1=John|title=A small book of typefaces|url=http://creativepro.com/dot-font-a-small-book-of-typefaces/|website=CreativePro|accessdate=1 August 2016}}{{cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Will|title=The Complete Typographer: A Manual for Designing with Type |date=2005 |publisher=Person Prentice Hall |location= Upper Saddle River |isbn= 9780131344457 |edition=2nd}} Tankard added some asymmetries to break from a purely geometric structure, such as sheared cuts on the capital 'E' and 'T'.{{cite web|last1=Tankard|first1=Jeremy|title=Originals – Bliss|url=http://studiotype.com/originals/bliss|website=Studiotype|accessdate=24 March 2018}}

Describing it, Tankard wrote that "forms were chosen for their simplicity, legibility, and ‘Englishness’, and that his goal was to create "the first commercial typeface with an English feel since Gill Sans."{{cite web|last1=Tankard|first1=Jeremy|author-link=Jeremy Tankard|title=Bliss Pro|url=http://typography.net/fontfamilies/view/27|publisher=Jeremy Tankard Typography|accessdate=18 December 2015}}{{cite book|author=Neil Macmillan|title=An A-Z of Type Designers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8lpJXXQPEqUC&pg=PA27|year=2006|publisher=Laurence King Publishing|isbn=978-1-85669-395-0|pages=26–7}}

As of 2018, Bliss is used as a corporate font by the universities of Worcester, Bath Spa and Solent, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Dignity Health, and the HADOPI institute, and by Edexcel.{{cite web|title=Typography|url=http://thehub.bathspa.ac.uk/services/marketing/branding/typography|publisher=Bath Spa University|accessdate=1 August 2016}}{{cite web|title=Logo|url=http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/about/resources/acknowledgingoursupport/logo/|website=Arts & Humanities Research Council|accessdate=1 August 2016}}{{cite web|title=Identity Guidelines for the University of Worcester|url=http://www.worcester.ac.uk/documents/Identity_Guidelines.pdf|publisher=University of Worcester|accessdate=1 August 2016}}{{cite web|title=Think London campaign|url=http://fontsinuse.com/uses/2823/think-london|website=Fonts in Use|accessdate=31 July 2016}}{{cite web|title=With Copyright Protectors Like These, who Needs Enemies?|url=http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_copyright_protectors_like_these_who_needs_enemies.php#.V5-sJ5NrjMU|website=Brand New|accessdate=1 August 2016}}{{cite web|title=We Change Worlds: Brand Guidelines|url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6061368/Solent-University-Brand-Guidelines.pdf|publisher=Solent University|accessdate=29 May 2019}}

In Canada, this font is also used in the logo of WestJet{{cite web |title=Canadian Airline WestJet Unveils New Logo and Livery Design |url=https://www.logo-designer.co/westjet-unveils-new-logo-and-airplane-livery-design/ |website=Logo Designer |accessdate=18 October 2020 |date=31 May 2018}} and Scouts Canada.{{cite web |title=Brand Guidelines |url=https://www.scouts.ca/resources/brand-centre/brand-resources/brand-guidelines.html |website=www.scouts.ca |publisher=Scouts Canada |accessdate=18 October 2020}}