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San Francisco (sans-serif typeface)

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For the 1984 Macintosh typeface, see San Francisco (1984 typeface).

San Francisco
File:San Francisco Display SP.svg
CategoryNeo-grotesque
FoundryApple Inc.
Date released2015
VariationsSF, SF Compact, SF Mono

San Francisco is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface made by Apple Inc. It was first released to developers on November 18, 2014.[1][2] It slightly resembles the older font Geneva, but with a few differences. It was used first as the system typeface of the Apple Watch, and later replaced Helvetica Neue as the system typeface of macOS and iOS starting with OS X El Capitan and iOS 9.[3][4][5] It is also the system typeface of tvOS, starting with the 4th generation Apple TV.[6] It is the first new typeface designed at Apple in nearly 20 years.[1] SF Mono, the third member of the family, was introduced at WWDC 2016 and used in the conference's website, as well as throughout the conference, on posters, signs, and marketing materials, and was first released to the public as part of Xcode 8 beta 1.[7]

Variants

The San Francisco typeface has three variants: "SF" for macOS, iOS, and tvOS; "SF Compact" for watchOS; and "SF Mono" for Xcode 8 and up.[4] The main difference is that the sides of letters with round shapes, such as o, e, and s, are round in SF, whereas they are flat in SF Compact. The flat sides allow the letters to have more space between them, thereby making the text more legible at small sizes, which is particularly important for the Apple Watch.[8] Both SF and SF Compact each have two optical sizes: "display" for large and "text" for small text. Compared to display, the letters in text have larger apertures and more generous letter-spacing. The operating system automatically chooses the display optical size for sizes of at least 20 points, and the text optical size otherwise.[8] Additionally, included in macOS Sierra and iOS 10 is a new variant named "SF Compact Rounded". It is used in the new contact placeholder icons introduced in the OSs.

Licensing

The typeface is licensed to registered third-party developers for the design and development of applications for iOS, macOS and watchOS.[4] It is also used on the 2015 MacBook and on the 2016 MacBook Pro as the keyboard typeface (replacing VAG Rounded[9]), the back of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and in recent Apple branding including that for Apple Watch and Apple Music.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b Brownlee, John (November 19, 2014). "Apple Releases Its Most Important Typeface in 20 Years". Fast Company. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  2. ^ Williams, Owen (November 18, 2014). "Meet Apple's new font, designed for its smartwatch". The Next Web. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  3. ^ "Typography". Apple Watch Human Interface Guidelines. Apple Inc. Retrieved June 13, 2015.[dead link‍]
  4. ^ a b c "Fonts". Apple Developer. Apple Inc. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  5. ^ Stinson, Liz (June 9, 2015). "Why Apple Abandoned the World's Most Beloved Typeface". Wired. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  6. ^ Apple (2015). "Visual Design - Apple TV Human Interface Guidelines - Apple Developer". Retrieved on 2015-10-04 from https://developer.apple.com/tvos/human-interface-guidelines/visual-design/.
  7. ^ Nowell, Peter. "Apple Reveals San Francisco Monospaced Font".
  8. ^ a b Cavedoni, Antonio (June 12, 2015). "Introducing the New System Fonts". WWDC 2015. Apple Inc.
  9. ^ Wright, Mic (March 9, 2015). "The new MacBook shows San Francisco is more than just the Apple Watch font". The Next Web. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
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