Stencil refers to two

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands ...

s released within months of each other in 1937. The face created by R. Hunter Middleton for

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which ...

was advertised in June, while

Gerry Powell Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

's version for

American Type Founders American Type Founders (ATF) Co. was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type manufactured in the United States. De Vinne, Theodore Low, ''The Practice of Typography,'' Century Comp ...

appeared one month later. Both fonts consist of only capital letters with rounded edges and thick main strokes, much like a Clarendon typeface, except with breaks in the face to give it the appearance of the

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

ed alphabets used on boxes and crates. Powell's exploration of ''Stencil'' became very popular over time and is still used today.

Digital Copies

''Stencil'' has been copied by many digital producers, including

Linotype GmbH The Mergenthaler Linotype Company is a corporation founded in the United States in 1886 to market the Linotype machine (), a system to cast metal type in lines (linecaster) invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It became the world's leading manufactur ...

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

URW++ URW Type Foundry GmbH (formerly URW++ Design & Development GmbH) is a type foundry based in Hamburg, Germany. The foundry has its own library with more than 500 font families. The company specializes in customized corporate typefaces and the d ...

. As the A.T.F. version is heavier, it is often called ''Stencil Bold'' when copied. In 1997, Alexei Chekulaev made a Cyrillic version of ''Stencil Bold'', called ''Stencil Cyrillic Regular.'' In ''Rookledge's Classic International Typefinder'',Perfect, Christopher, Gordon Rookledge, Phil Baines, ''Rookledge's Classic International Typefinder,'' Lawrence King Publishing, London, 2004, , p. 575. the entry ''Stencil Bold'' shows the existence of a lowercase letters in the font that are unavailable from either actual type foundries or the producers of digital type.

Usage

Stencil is a common font for (typically american) army-themed displays, including ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 1983 to March 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The four members of the team were tried by court m ...

'', '' Private Benjamin'' and ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker (auth ...

'' television series. It is also used with warehouse aesthetic. It is also used for the credits on card labels on the crates of the Woodland Animations for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

Children's TV programme '' Bertha''. It is also used as the logotype for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's TV show, '' Recess''. The typeface was also used for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

shirt name and number font in the 2001 and 2002 seasons. The typeface was used to render the names of the characters in the Incredible Crash Dummies action figure line. Stencil is also used in the logo for

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement r ...

and

Réno-Dépôt Réno-Dépôt (known as Reno-Depot outside of Quebec) is a Canadian chain of home supply stores owned by Lowe's. Primarily operating in Quebec, Réno-Dépôt is a warehouse-styled format with a focus on discounted renovation and household hardware ...

. It is also used in the logo for the talk show, ''

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

''. This typeface is also used in the logo for the reality television series ''

Cops Cop or Cops commonly refers to: * Police officer Cop and other variants may also refer to: Art and entertainment Film * ''Cop'' (film), a 1988 American thriller * ''Cops'' (film), an American silent comedy short starring Buster Keaton * ''The ...

''. The Stencil typeface is also used for the English title screen and logo of the Japanese mecha OVA series from ''

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with '' Mo ...

'' franchise, '' Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket''.

References

{{reflist Display typefaces Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1937 American Type Founders typefaces Typefaces designed by R. Hunter Middleton Letterpress typefaces Military typefaces

Digital Copies

Usage

See also

References