SDES2198 Advanced Typography and Publishing Design: Myriad

Myriad is a san-serif typeface designed by Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly for Adobe systems in 1991. This typeface was designed specifically for use through digital technology. It is classified as a humanist font, being those based on classic romans without serifs, becoming organic and softly rounded. According to Slimbach (2011), the goal was to create a generic looking font, "almost a totally invisible type of letter, just very generic… something that really didn't show anyone's personality too much". This was assisted through the project using a collabroative approach, without the mannerisms or style of one designer in particular shining through.

The typeface is best known for its usage by Apple, replacing Garamond as Apple's corporate font since 2002. The font is prominently featured throughout all of Apple's advertising, in particular the iPhone, iPad and iPod ranges. Myriad is also the default font for Adobe Illustrator and is included in all of Adobe’s branding and products.

Often been compared to humanist typeface Frutiger (designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1975), the font is easily distinguished from other san-serif fonts due to the tail of its 'y' and slanting 'e', with Myriad being more condensed than the latter. It has straight stems, flat endings and character shapes with subtle geometric shaping.

There are eight variations in the Myriad typeface. This includes, Myriad Pro (OpenType, the expansion released in 1992 which included a wider range of weights), Myriad Web (TrueType, optimised for onscreen use) and Myriad Wild (slightly more irregular). The font also comes with a wide variety of weights and widths, from light italic to semibold, provides a generous creative palette for many digital compositions.

The Myriad typeface has been very popular since its release, possibly due to its legibility and energetic and modern feel. Apart from Apple's regular use, many brands use the Myriad typeface in logos and branding. For example, Nippon Airways uses it for the promotional material for it's new business class services, Woolworths through its logo and branding and also Linkedin in its text-based logo.