Whitney (typeface)

Whitney is a family of humanist sans-serif digital typefaces, designed by American type designer Tobias Frere-Jones.^[1] It was originally created for New York's Whitney Museum as its institutional typeface.^[2] Two key requirements were flexibility for editorial requirements and a design consistency with the Whitney Museum's existing public signage.

Whitney

Category	Sans-serif
Classification	Neo-grotesque/Humanist sans-serif
Designer(s)	Tobias Frere-Jones
Commissioned by	Whitney Museum
Foundry	Hoefler & Co.
Date created	2004
Website	https://www.typography.com/fonts/whitney/overview

Typographical context

Whitney was created in 2004 by the foundry of Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Whitney bridges the divide between editorial mainstays such as News Gothic (1908), which is an American gothic typeface, and signage application standards such as Frutiger (1975), which is a European humanist typeface. Moreover, "its compact forms and broad x-height use space efficiently, and its ample counters and open shapes make it clear under any circumstances."^[2]

Variants

• Whitney Light
• Whitney Light Italic
• Whitney Book
• Whitney Book Italic
• Whitney Medium
• Whitney Medium Italic
• Whitney Semibold
• Whitney Semibold Italic
• Whitney Bold
• Whitney Bold Italic
• Whitney Black
• Whitney Black Italic

Use

• City of West Vancouver
• Whitney Museum ^{[citation needed]}
• Discord^[3] (until 2022)^[4]
• The Walt Disney Company (until 2012)
• SketchUp^[5]
• Bridgewater Associates (one of the largest hedge funds in the world)^[6]
• Kodak^[7][8]
• Boston University^[9]
• University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio^[10]
• New Zealand Transport Agency^[11] Publications and advertising^[12]
• NYU Langone Medical Center Stationery Guidelines^[13]
• Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education (CPCFSE) – Be Food Safe Campaign^[14]
• American Nerd is a book by Benjamin Nugent whose book cover uses Whitney^[15]
• Delta Air Lines (used in logo and all branding)^[16]
• Sam's Club has used Whitney for advertising and promotions since their 2006 rebranding. In-store signage at Sam's Clubs that have been built or renovated since the rebranding are also typeset in Whitney.^[17]
• The University of British Columbia^[18]
• Endeavor
• Mitt Romney used Whitney Semibold together with Mercury for his 2012 US Presidential election bid.^[19]
• ColdwellBankerHomes.com - one of the largest real estate broker websites launched in 2015 uses Whitney font ^[20]
• Castleton University (used on its website for texts of articles)^[21]
• St John Ambulance^[22]
• Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce uses Whitney since its rebranding in 2021.
• Ascension (company)
• iNaturalist (until 2024)^[23]
• ABRSM