https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/16/the-hardest-working-font-in-manhattan
@daringfireball That’s a great essay. You might like this 15 minute promotional film for Letraset (hope this isn’t region-blocked).
@daringfireball Thanks, @mwichary, for putting a name—and great photography—to a font that’s everywhere! I found Gorton embossed on a (not that old) plastic measuring cup in my kitchen.
Then I looked at Chernobyl photos—sure enough, Gorton digits galore! (And who-knows-what Cyrillic lettering.)
So I was inspired to make a Gorton web clock with soviet-era reactor control styling (I’ll reply with how to read it):
Here’s an example of #Chernobyl Gorton numbering: https://imgur.com/j4OAjjG
How to read my clock:
The digits are “printed” and unchanging. The time is told via just 4 lamps.
The top lamp is the hour parity: lit for an odd hour. (Your time sense can figure it out from there—really!)
The other 3 lamps are the minutes (within a few minutes).
- Any one lit is obvious: approximately 15, 30, 45.
- Zero lit : around 00.
- Multiple lit: read the number BETWEEN them. Example: all 3 lit = around 07.