The Guinness Lettering Font

The Guinness word was a core feature of the original trademark label. It was not only the product

name, but also the name of the family that ran the business. The Guinness name was not only used

on bottle labels, but was also used extensively by the Company at the St. James’s Gate Brewery - on wooden casks, horse-drawn drays, barges, ships, and even on the Brewery’s gates.

With the advent of official advertising in 1929, the Guinness name was used on posters, press advertisements, and merchandise.

Appearing, all the while, in a variety of lettering styles. This inconsistency in style was removed in the 1960s when the first official typeface for the Guinness word was introduced.

This new typeface was developed by Bruce Hobbs, an artist at the advertising agency that held the account for GUINNESS - S.H. Benson Limited.

The Hobbs typeface, as it became known, was launched in 1963, and was initially used on posters only. It appeared in red lettering on a cream background.

In 1968 the Hobbs typeface was slightly altered, to a smoother line, and was used for the first time on bottle labels.

From then on it was used on all other forms of brand communication.

Further modifications were made in the 1991 and the typeface became known as ‘Design Group Hobbs’. It now appeared as gold lettering on a black ground.

Then when the brand identity was redesigned in 1997, a new typeface called ‘Unified Hobbsian’, was introduced.

The typeface appeared in white lettering on a black ground, the letters were unified except for a break in the two middle ‘N’s, and the ‘G’ was raised slightly above the other letters. The word was redrawn as a word-mark for the new identity in 2005, and no longer exists as a font.