Apple Watch Sports New Custom Typeface

Erica Gamet

Production in the creative realm slowed to a crawl on Tuesday, September 9th as designers, photographers, techies, and the entire population of Apple fanboys—and fangirls—were glued to their computer screens to see what new goodies Apple would unleash during their media event. The rumored iPhone 6 and even the less-likely iPhone 6 Plus made their debut almost as soon as the keynote began. Fast forward an hour or so to a familiar and newly-resurrected phrase, “One more thing.” Apple unveiled the nearly mythical Apple Watch. After all the drooling and cooing over the new wearable receded, the creative blogoshpere started buzzing about a feature that wasn’t even mentioned. The Apple Watch interface sports a completely new typeface.

Apple is keeping very tight-lipped about the typeface, except to briefly state, “We even developed a new typeface to maximize legibility.” The company is no stranger to typeface creation, though the last Apple-designed font was 2009’s Menlo which shipped with OS X Snow Leopard. This as-of-yet-unnamed typeface has similarities to—and most certainly, roots in—FF DIN which was also created for maximum legibility at small sizes.

The mystery face doesn’t have a traditional Apple feel to it, but then Apple has never released a wrist-bound computer before. Similarities exist between it and Roboto, the Google-designed Android font, which is enough to make any Apple fanboy bristle. I’ve read that it’s not “sophisticated enough” for Apple. I think comments like that miss the point, though. Form that enhances function is paramount for a typeface that will be displayed on a small device, while conveying info quickly to a user that is as likely to be jogging as sitting at a desk. As with most things Apple, some people will love the Apple Watch typeface, others will hate it. One thing for certain is that the creative corners of the internet will be abuzz for some time about the newest gadget and whether or not Apple has a winner on its hands (or wrists).

What do you think of the Apple Watch typeface? What other typefaces does it remind you of? Did Apple hit or miss with the custom typeface?