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_Ben_Marshall_
Participant
June 18, 2008
Question

Avant Garde Gothic BT < what does the BT stand for?

  • June 18, 2008
  • 9 replies
  • 14365 views
I am producing some work for a company, in whose style guide it specifies 'ITV Avant Garde Gothic BT' - I have Avant Garde Gothic, but cannot find any decent reference to what the BT might mean. Is it a different version of the font? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    9 replies

    C
    Chelsea307387415zto
    Participant
    June 27, 2023

    It stands for Bold Title. 

      T
      Test Screen Name
      Legend
      June 29, 2023

      No it doesn't, Chelsea, not in this case. The answer already given (BT=Bitstream) is the correct one.

      B
      Community Expert
      Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 2, 2023

      Bitstream's "BT" suffixed-named fonts have often been bundled into certain graphics applications, such as CorelDRAW. The BT flavor of Avant Garde Gothic has some very slight differences to variants of Avant Garde released by other type foundries.

      N
      Neil_Keller
      Known Participant
      June 19, 2008
      Of course, similarly named fonts from different foundries having different attributes is nothing new. Back in the hot metal/foundry/Ludlow/Wood type days, you had "interpretations" and adaptations of many of the fonts of the day.

      Neil
      T
      Thomas Phinney
      Inspiring
      June 19, 2008
      Back in the '80s and maybe the early '90s, ITC used to license the abstract designs for their fonts rather than licensing the digital outlines, so different foundries would license the ITC designs and come out with different versions.

      Cheers,

      T
      _
      _Dominic_Hurley_
      Participating Frequently
      June 19, 2008
      If you have any 1990s Corel software, check the CDs - they often came with a large library of Bitstream fonts.
      N
      Neil_Keller
      Known Participant
      June 18, 2008
      Ben,
      >Does this mean that Adobe's version is identical to Bitstream's?

      Depends upon the licensing and the whim of the foundry. But as for AGG, I agree with Don's assessment. Physical size per specific point size, minor differences in weight, included glyph complement...

      In short, start with the named font family from one foundry and stick with it in any particular piece you're designing.

      Neil
      D
      D__McCahill
      Known Participant
      June 18, 2008
      More complicated than you think. If you look at Century Gothic, included with windows, you will find that it is a clone of AG. Not identical, but close enough that the casual user would think them the same.

      As for how identical they are, I would suspect that the kerning and character widths, at the least, may vary, even if the shapes are identical. This is more serious then it sounds, because the cumulative difference in widths can make line endings change, often with disasterous results.
      _
      _Ben_Marshall_Author
      Participant
      June 18, 2008
      I have been looking into this further - according to MyFonts.com, "This ITC font, digitized by Bitstream, is no longer available due to ITC's termination of licensing agreements with many resellers in January 2001. We leave it on display at MyFonts for completeness, since it has been a Bitstream font for several years. However, Adobe offers the original font for sale at MyFonts"

      Does this mean that Adobe's version is identical to Bitstream's? What are the differences between these and Monotype's version? Does anyone know how many versions of Avant Garde Gothic exist? Gosh, its all very complicated..
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      _Ben_Marshall_Author
      Participant
      June 18, 2008
      Genius, thanks very much. This makes a whole lot of sense...
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      _Aandi_Inston_
      Participating Frequently
      June 18, 2008
      BT = BitStream: the maker of the font. If you see it without the BT it
      is probably a similar design rather than the same font; certainly not
      interchangable. You may also see MT = Monotype.

      Aandi Inston
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