Gotham 字體和蝙蝠俠里的 Gotham City 有什麼關係？

01-02

根據查閱的資料，他們的關聯是「紐約」。

Gotham 是華盛頓歐文在1807年提出的紐約的一個綽號。[*1]

Gotham 字體的靈感來自於紐約街頭的舊式字體，店鋪銘牌的鐵字、霓虹燈字、車子貼皮上的字體等，字體創作者弗里爾瓊斯利用在街頭拍的這些字體的照片，設計出 Gotham 字體。 [*2]
蝙蝠俠中的 Gotham City 是作者 Bill Finger 在給蝙蝠俠的城市取名字時在電話本中找到的一家名叫 Gotham Jewelers 的珠寶店得來的靈感。而 Gotham Jewelers 中的 Gotham 來自於紐約的這個綽號。[*3]

所以我覺得字體創作者與蝙蝠俠作者都因紐約的別名 Gotham 而給各自的作品取了這個名字。

[*1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham

[*2] http://www.typography.com/fonts/font_history.php?historyItemID=1productLineID=100008

[*3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City

可能關係就是他們 source 都是 New York City.

Gotham 從 DC 漫畫的角度看，上述已經有了非常詳細的解釋。

"Gotham" had long been a well-known nickname for New York City even prior to Batman"s 1939 introduction.

2. Gotham 字體的靈感來源也是紐約市。Gotham 是著名的無襯線幾何字體，靈感來自於美國街頭傳統的字體樣式。是美國著名字體設計師 Tobias Frere-Jones 受 GQ 雜誌委託而設計的字體。Gotham 寬大，現代，簡潔，年輕，應用範圍很廣。

比如 GQ 的 logo ( "Francis Underwood has got plans for you" 正是 Gotham）

可能最著名的宣傳就是 Obama 總統大選時是在各種宣傳材料上使用 Gotham

還有現在的 CNN 新聞 banner

and......

以及改版後美特斯邦威

Reference：

Gotham City

GQ Magazine - Samuel L Jackson covers British GQ

typographic tradition

The field guide to typography

看了兩個東西在wikipedia上面的解釋。嘗試解答如下：

Gotham字體

Gotham is a family of geometric sans-serif digital typefaces designed by American type designer Tobias Frere-Jones in 2000.
Gotham"s letterforms are inspired by a form of architectural signage that achieved popularity in the mid-twentieth century, and are especially popular throughout New York City.

Gotham City

a fictional American city appearing in comic books published DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman"s place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman#4 (Winter 1940). New York Times journalist William Safire described Gotham City as "New York below 14th Street, from SoHo to Greenwich Village, the Bowery, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the sinister areas around the base of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges."

Gothama字體，古已有之，在紐約比較盛行。Gotham City來自於蝙蝠俠這幅漫畫，在漫畫中被描述為紐約市的某區域。紐約是這兩個東西之間的交集。

Gotham字體的發明過程

Frere-Jones" inspiration for the typeface came from time spent walking block-by-block through Manhattan with a camera to find source material,
and he based the font on the lettering seen in older buildings, especially the sign on the Eighth Avenue facade of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. "I suppose there"s a hidden personal agenda in the design," Frere-Jones said, "to preserve those old pieces of New York that could be wiped out before they"re appreciated. Having grown up here, I was always fond of the "old" New York and its lettering."

Gotham City的命名過程

"Originally I was going to call Gotham City "Civic City." Then I tried "Capital City," then "Coast City." Then I flipped through the New York City phone book and spotted the name "Gotham Jewelers" and said, "That"s it," Gotham City. We didn"t call it New York because we wanted anybody in any city to identify with it."

以上，Gotham字體的靈感來自於『old』New York，Gotham City的名字來自於"Gotham Jewelers"，而"Gotham"本身則是New York的一個使用了很長時間的眾所周知的昵稱。如下。

"Gotham" had long been a well-known nickname for New York City even prior to Batman"s 1939 introduction,
which explains why "Gotham Jewelers" and many other businesses in New York City have the word "Gotham" in them.

參考：

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_(typeface)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City

順便發現一下Gotham字體貌似很牛逼。各種商標字體，還是奧巴馬競選用的字體。