Twentieth Century is a geometric sans-serif

Sans-serif

In typography, a sans-serif, sans serif or san serif typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without"....

 foundry typeface designed by Sol Hess

Sol Hess

Sol Hess was an American typeface designer. After a three-year scholarship course at Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Design, he began at Lanston Monotype in 1902, rising to typographic manager in 1922. He was a close friend and collaborator with Monotype art director Frederic Goudy,...

 for Lanston Monotype as a competitor to the successful Futura

Futura (typeface)

In typography, Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933...

 typeface, but with a larger x-height

X-height

In typography, the x-height or corpus size refers to the distance between the baseline and the mean line in a typeface. Typically, this is the height of the letter x in the font , as well as the u, v, w, and z...

 and more even stroke width. The Twentieth Century face is distinct for its single-story lowercase a and g.

Casting History

The various weights and widths were cut over a period of ten years:

• Twentieth Century (1937)
• Twentieth Century Bold Italic (1937)
• Twentieth Century Extrabold Italic (1937)
• Twentieth Century Extrabold Condensed Italic (1938)
• Twentieth Century Ultrabold (1941)
• Twentieth Century Ultrabold Condensed (1944)
• Twentieth Century Medium Condensed Italic (1947)
• Twentieth Century Ultrabold Italic (1947)

Foundry Type Copies

The first American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 knock-off of Futura was Baltimore Type Foundry’s Airport. No information exists on how this was produced, but it resembles Futura so closely, that it is thought to be Stereotyped

Stereotype (printing)

In printing, a stereotype, also known as a cliché, stereoplate or simply a stereo, was originally a "solid plate or type-metal, cast from a papier-mâché or plaster mould taken from the surface of a forme of type" used for printing instead of the original...

. After Monotype introduced Twentieth Century, Baltotype began selling some weights of this face under the Airport name.

Digital Type Copies

Century Gothic

Century Gothic

Century Gothic is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed for Monotype Imaging in 1991. It is a digital typeface that has never been made into actual foundry type...

is a digital typeface designed for Monotype Imaging

Monotype Corporation

Monotype Imaging Holdings is a Delaware corporation based in Woburn, Massachusetts and specializing in typesetting and typeface design as well as text and imaging solutions for use with consumer electronics devices. Monotype Imaging Holdings is the owner of Monotype Imaging Inc., Linotype,...

in 1991 based on Twentieth Century.

Footnotes

1. McGrew, Mac, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, ISBN 0-938768-34-4., p. 315.
2. McGrew, p. 9
3. Microsoft's description of Century Gothic