Hobo is a sans-serif typeface. It is unique for having virtually no straight lines or descenders. It was created by

Morris Fuller Benton Morris Fuller Benton (November 30, 1872 – June 30, 1948) was an American typeface designer who headed the design department of the American Type Founders (ATF), for which he was the chief type designer from 1900 to 1937. Many of Benton's ...

and issued by

American Type Founders American Type Founders (ATF) Co. was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type manufactured in the United States. De Vinne, Theodore Low, ''The Practice of Typography,'' Century Comp ...

in 1910. A light version, ''Light Hobo'', was released in 1915. Matrices were offered for mechanical composition by Intertype. The lower case letters provided the basis for

Robert Wiebking Robert Wiebking (1870–1927) was a German-American engraver type designer, typeface designer who was known for cutting type matrices for Frederic Goudy from 1911 to 1926. Life and career Robert Wiebking was born in Schwelm, Germany in 1870, he em ...

's ''Advertisers Gothic'' of 1917. This font may have originally been intended as an

Art-Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

font due to its resemblance to other fonts of the time. There are several theories regarding the font's name, and in fact it is widely recognized as one of the more interesting mysteries in typographic history. One theory states that its name came from a story stating that it was sketched in the early 1900s, sent to the foundry nameless, and progressed so little for so long, that it was called ''"that old hobo"''. Hobo, originally called ''Adface'', was finally patented in 1915 along with Light Hobo. The prevailing bow-legged shape of the letterforms inspired another long-held theory that it was so named because they resembled those of a bow-legged hobo. The most complete and most plausible theory demonstrates how Benton, who lived and worked near a large Russian community, must have seen a particular cigar poster spelling what appears to read like "HOBO!" ("ново", Russian for "New!"). The poster's hand-lettering of the word bears striking and unique resemblances to the font; the shape of the O at the extreme right of the poster was probably traced by Benton to match his own Capital O precisely, and those shapes helped define the design of the font. Digital versions of this face are often found in

Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

systems.

Usage in popular culture

Hobo was used as the main typeface in the title sequence and promotional materials of the 1969 film ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...

''. Hobo was used in the opening titles of ''

The Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy TV series that was aired on CBS from January 26, 1979 to February 8, 1985. The show aired for 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. It was consistently among the top-rated television series ...

''. Hobo was used as the main typeface in the title card sequence of ''

Winx Club ''Winx Club'' is an animated series co-produced by Rainbow S.p.A., Rainbow SpA and later Nickelodeon. It was created by Italian animator Iginio Straffi. The show is set in a magical universe that is inhabited by fairies, witches, and other myth ...

''. Hobo was used as the long closing credits of ''

Tic-Tac-Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produc ...

''. Hobo was used as the typeface of The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning and The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night. Hobo was used as the opening and ending credits of the popular television show ''

That '70s Show ''That '70s Show'' is an American television Period piece, period teen sitcom that aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the ficti ...

''. Hobo was used in Pantages Theatre's logo. Hobo was used in the logo of

Ubu Productions Ubu Productions, Inc., was an independent production company founded in 1982 by television producer Gary David Goldberg. Ubu's notable productions include ''Family Ties'' (1982–1989), '' Brooklyn Bridge'' (1991–1993), and ''Spin City'' (1996� ...

from 1982-2002. Hobo also gets used in the ''

Bon Appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center i ...

'' test kitchen videos. Hobo was used in the ending credits of ''

Polka Dot Door Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

'' (sometimes). Hobo was used in the opening and ending credits of Czech stop motion series

Pat & Mat ''Pat & Mat'' (Czech and Slovak: ''Pat a Mat'') is a Czechoslovak slapstick stop-motion animated series created by Lubomír Beneš and Vladimír Jiránek. The characters first appeared in the theatrically released short ''Kuťáci'' (''Tinkers'' ...

(episodes from 2000-2004).

References

External links

Samples of HoboFlickr group dedicated to sightings of HoboInstagram hashtag dedicated to sightings of Hobo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobo (Typeface) Display typefaces Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1910 American Type Founders typefaces Sans-serif typefaces Letterpress typefaces Photocomposition typefaces Digital typefaces Art Nouveau typefaces Typefaces designed by Morris Fuller Benton