Greatest fonts countdown: 72 - Industria

FontShop AG, the renowned type foundry, conducted a survey based on historical relevance, sales at FontShop.com, and aesthetic quality. With a few additions from the experts at Creative Bloq and Computer Arts magazine, the best fonts ever were selected for the new book, 100 Best Typefaces Ever.

Here we are counting down the 100 greatest fonts, but you can read interviews with some of the typefaces' creators, a brief history of type, the anatomy of a font, and much, much more in the book – find out how to get your copy in print or digital formats at the foot of this post.

But without further ado, here is the 72nd best typeface…

72. Industria

  • Neville Brody, 1984

Linotype was the first company to release three digitised typefaces by Neville Brody as a single package: Industria, Arcadia and Insignia. All three alphabets had already been used by the British design star several years previously in the magazines, The Face and Arena.

The Arcadia characters were created in 1986 for a banner in Arena. The geometric and condensed Industria, with its rounded corners and angular counters was introduced by Brody in around 1985 in The Face’s headlines. Insignia started out as a display face in Arena, Bauhaus-inspired and with several alternative characters.

During his time as art director of influential UK youth culture magazine The Face, Neville Brody designed Industria, seen here in use on the covers

During his time as art director of influential UK youth culture magazine The Face, Neville Brody designed Industria, seen here in use on the covers

The 100 Best Typefaces Ever

This is an extract from The 100 Best Typefaces Ever, the definitive guide to the greatest fonts ever created, in association with FontShop AG. Over 180 premium pages, the book dissects the world's greatest typefaces, bringing you some insightful background on each and interviews with their creators.

You can pick up the book at all good newsagents today or order it online. Or you can download a digital edition directly to your iPad from the Computer Arts app on iTunes.

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Rob Carney

Rob is editorial, graphic design and publishing lead at Transport for London. He previously worked at Future Publishing over the course of several years, where he launched digital art magazine, ImagineFX; and edited graphic design magazine Computer Arts, as well as the Computer Arts Projects series, and was also editor of technology magazine, T3.