Cooper Hewitt: the typeface by Chester Jenkins
The new typeface, Cooper Hewitt, is a contemporary sans serif, with characters composed of modified-geometric curves and arches. Initially commissioned by Pentagram to evolve his Polaris Condensed typeface, Chester Jenkins created a new digital form to support the newly transformed museum. “Developing this typeface specifically for Cooper Hewitt has been enormously gratifying,” said Jenkins. “Instead of building on the Polaris structures, I drew everything from scratch, using the existing forms as a rough guide for letter widths and master-stroke thicknesses.”
The new font can be downloaded free of charge for unrestricted public use under the SIL Open Font License.
Designing the identity
From a bold new font to a brand new name, hear how Cooper Hewitt is reimagining itself for the 21st century and how the museum’s new identity was conceived and designed. Eddie Opara (Pentagram) and Chester Jenkins (Village) talk with Caroline Baumann, Cooper Hewitt’s director, in a 90 minute talk recorded September 10, 2014.
Download the Typeface
OpenType version, best for OSX [.otf, zipped, 658kB]
Windows-compatible version, limited to 4 weights [.ttf, zipped, 299kB]
If you are a font designer then download the Unified Font Object (UFO) format files for modification directly within RoboFont, FontLab, Glyphs or other tools. The UFO files are available on our GitHub.
Tell us how you are using the typeface
We’d love to hear what you are using the Cooper Hewitt font for. Maybe you’ve made a poster, or used it in some interactive app? Drop us a line and tell us!
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