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Overpass (typeface)

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Overpass
CategorySans-serif
ClassificationGeometric sans-serif
Designer(s)Delve Withrington (principal), Dave Bailey, Thomas Jockin, Alan Dague-Greene, Jason Campbell, Aaron Bell
FoundryDelve Fonts
Date releasedAugust 28, 2015
LicenseSIL Open Font License
Websiteoverpassfont.org
Latest release version4.0[1]
Latest release dateSeptember 10, 2021[2]

Overpass is a geometric sans-serif digital typeface, derived from Highway Gothic, but instead with a focus on usage as a webfont on digital screens for user interfaces and websites. It was designed by Delve Withrington with Dave Bailey, Thomas Jockin, Alan Dague-Greene, and Aaron Bell between 2011–2021.[3] Overpass comprises 18 variants: 9 font weights and corrected obliques for each weight.

The Overpass typeface was commissioned by Red Hat exclusively for use in their software for UI elements. At that time, the commercial typeface Interstate was Red Hat's corporate typeface but it was not available as a webfont and the time it took to generate new images with each new update of their software were the motivators to commission Overpass.[4][5][6]

Overpass was initially developed for Red Hat by Delve Withrington in 2011 and had only two weights (regular and bold) with hinting for the TrueType format fonts performed by Jason Campbell. The 2015 update to version 3.0 was developed by Delve Withrington with assistance from Dave Bailey, Thomas Jockin, Alan Dague-Greene, and expert consultation by Michael Luton on Overpass Mono. The newly rebuilt family was released as open source and included the addition of six more weights plus corrected oblique "italic" styles[7][8] and a new monospaced version called Overpass Mono, which itself has a range of 5 weights.

In 2021, with the sponsorship of Google Fonts, the typeface was expanded again by Delve Fonts with the addition of Variable versions and support for Cyrillic script.[9] Post-production assistance on that version (4.0) was provided by Aaron Bell on behalf of Google Fonts.

See also

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  • IBM Plex – the open-source corporate font family of IBM.
  • Clearview, another typeface for road signage

References

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  1. ^ Added new font weights and Cyrillic characters. See: https://github.com/RedHatOfficial/Overpass
  2. ^ "Overpass". GitHub. May 24, 2022.
  3. ^ "Overpass". Tumblr. Delve Fonts. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  4. ^ "Red Hat releases free/libre Overpass font family".
  5. ^ "Red Hat veröffentlicht freie Schriftfamilie "Overpass"". Pro-Linux (in German).
  6. ^ "Typography". Red Hat. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2023. Interstate is our corporate typeface. It's part of a large and versatile type family, which allows us to speak in many voices—from big and bold to calm and confident. Interstate looks best in print and when used for big headlines. We use it for all printed material, like collateral and stationery; for advertising, like printed ads and web banners; and anywhere text is embedded in an image, like diagrams and videos. Interstate is a commercial typeface, and you must buy a license to use it … Overpass is an open-licensed alternative to Interstate that is specifically for use on-screen and in our software. Like Interstate, Overpass is based on the FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) series of fonts, which has been used for US Highway signage since 1945.
  7. ^ Julien, Alec (September 21, 2015). "This month in typography". i love typography. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  8. ^ Withrington, Delve. "A sneak peek at a new, more versatile 8 weight line-up for Overpass currently in progress". Twitter. Delve Fonts. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  9. ^ https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Overpass#about and https://github.com/RedHatOfficial/Overpass
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