Handel Gothic is a geometric sans-serif typeface. The typeface was designed in the mid-1960s by Donald J. Handel, who worked for the graphic designer Saul Bass. It was a companion typeface for the 1972 Warner Bros. logo and wordmark developed at Saul Bass' studios. It was also used in the 1973 United Airlines logo developed by Bass. It was used in the end credits of Sesame Street from 1983-1992. When first released, Handel Gothic was an instant success. The typeface was originally distributed in film format by FotoStar and was reissued in the 1980s by Robert Trogman. It was a popular font in the 1980s due to its futuristic design, and even today is used to signify the future; it has been used in the credits of both ' and ' as well as the logo for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Handel Gothic was also used for the end credits on CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 1981. Handel Gothic was also used for the end credits of Sesame Street. The Elsner+Flake, Linotype and URW++ versions use a curved leg on uppercase R, a horizontal tail on the uppercase Q, a curved lower leg on the lowercase k, and a trident-like lowercase w. The Bitstream and Tilde SIA versions, however, use a thicker 1, a straight leg on the uppercase R, a straight lower leg on the lowercase k, and a double-v w.
Handel Gothic Cyrillic
It is a version by Tilde SIA with Cyrillic support. The family includes 1 font.
ITC Handel Gothic (2008)
It is a re-proportioned version designed by Rod McDonald, released in March 2008 by International Typeface Corporation. The original release includes 5 fonts in 5 weights. OpenType features include fractions, ligatures, ordinals, stylistic alternates and subscript/superscript. Italic versions of the fonts were introduced with release of ITC Handel Gothic Pro.
ITC Handel Gothic Pro (2010)
It is a version of ITC Handel Gothic with complementary italic designs, support of Adobe Central Europe character set, addition of ligatures and alternate characters. Additional OpenType features include localized forms, stylistic set 1.
ITC Handel Gothic Arabic (2015)
It is a version of ITC Handel Gothic for Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages, designed by Nadine Chahine of Monotype Imaging, based on Kufic script. The font family includes 5 fonts in 5 weights, without italics.
URW++ Handel Slab (2009)
A slab-serif counterpart to URW++ Handel Gothic with three weights and obliques styles to complement them.
Corporate identity uses
343 Industries, the current developer of the Halovideo game franchise, have used Handel Gothic in their logo since their first game, ', released in 2011. This follows the font being used in the first game in the Halo series, ', which was developed by Bungie and released in 2001.
Cinemax Studios Used the font in 1997 until June 24, 1998
Disney – The Walt Disney Company used Handel Gothic in the logo of The Disney Channel from 1983 to 1986. The font was also used on the Walt Disney Home Video logo Neon Mickey from 1983 to 1986. the clamshells from Walt DisneyHome Video usually from 1980 to early 1984. Additionally, it was featured on the 1971 to 1996 Walt Disney World logo with a Mickey silhouette within an oversized "D", as well as on signage within Epcot center prior to refurbishments.
Robotnik Automation – uses Handel Gothic in their logo.
Korean Broadcasting System- Korean national public television broadcaster's logo.
Pepsi Cola Logos from 1987 to 2003 featured this font.
San Miguel Corporation uses Handel Gothic as their corporate logo font since 1975.
TV Patrol, a newscast in the Philippines, used this font since 2001.
United Airlines – In 1973 Saul Bass developed the United logo that featured a customized red and blue "Double U" logo and underneath Handel Gothic logotype.
Univision – Has used the font for its graphics packages during the early 2000s.
Volvo – has used the font since 1974. Initially, it was used for the model badges on its cars, but this application ceased in the early 1980s when it began to be used for the instrument panel and dashboard graphics, where it has been applied ever since.
WWF SmackDown! used it for the first 2 years of the show, as the nameplate font for wrestlers, commentators and other various graphics from 1999 to 2001.
ZDF – German national public television broadcaster's logo.
