Herbert Matter logo question

Obscure question here, but why do newer uses of the New Haven logo have an extra serif? Was it to get around some copyright, or was it just an oversight?

Sans serif

Avec serif

I'm assuming that you are referring to the bar at the bottom of the "N" on its right side and if so, it appears to be a mistake because if you look at the sides of the engines, they don't have it.

The "NH" on the noses of FL-9s had the serif on the lower corner of the "N" going back to the New Haven days, while the "N" on the sides did not. See photo below. I suspect they were delivered from EMD this way. It seems that no (or few) other diesel units, EP-5s, cabooses, or anything that had the block "NH" logo had the extra serif.


http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nh/nh2002goa.jpg

Huh, look at that. Interestingly, the GP40's get the logo wrong on the sides, too.

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?20187

GP-40s? Perhaps you meant E-40s? But, that was a PC class, not a NH class.

In any event, the logo on the nose and sides of the EP-5 is the correct logo - no extra serif on the "N". The nose logo on the FL-9s was wrong, but was never corrected.

No, I mean the GP-40's that they sometimes use on Shore Line East.

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?98137

The Shoreline East GP40-2Hs were brought on board long after the New Haven died (but the logo lived on). Yes, both the nose logo and side logo have a serif on the "N", which is technically wrong, but looks nicer, which is probably why they used it.

Yeah, I thought that maybe when they decided to get them in that paint scheme, they were concerned about copyright issues, and tried to change the logo enough to get around them.

Had there been any copyright issues, which there weren't, changing the appearance of one letter slightly would not have skirted the issue.

The font used by Herbert Matter in the original design is called Extended Egyptian, and in it the "N" is sans serif, not avec serif.

I think that our friend is playing a little play on words with us, Statkowski. French avec=with, sans=without.

In fontology (or whatever it's called), those two are the correct terms to use. Such is the beauty of the English language - occasionally it steals words and phrases from other languages.

I'm a Patriots fan, and some people were arguing about "Pat Patriot" vs. "Flying Elvis." Someone raised the point that, putting aside the aesthetics, "Flying Elvis" is a superior logo because it's simpler, more direct, and easier to reproduce. I think this is the case with the Matter logo, compared to the "Coke" logo, and that's one reason that people in Connecticut have taken to it.