How to use Johnston Sans or an equivalent substitute?

Question

I'd like to use Johnston Sans font. Apparently, its licensing is strictly controlled.

On the LaTeX Font Catalogue I didn't find any free substitute.

Is it possible to have it working in {pdf,Xe,Lua}LaTeX in any way?

Without applying for a license, I can’t know what the obstacles are. But (unless you need an italic) I’d recommend P22 Underground and its engraved version. I’ve used them with fontspec and luatex and had no problem whatsoever. — Thérèse, Apr 08 '20 at 14:27
There are also free — but much more limited — versions by Nick Curtis and GregF. One of these may suffice for your project. — Thérèse, Apr 08 '20 at 14:58
thanks! can you give me some directions on how to use them? I guess that this is a starting point: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/226/installing-ttf-fonts-in-latex — Alessandro Cuttin, Apr 08 '20 at 15:15

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 08 '20 at 16:10

The easiest and most powerful way to use the fonts which interest you is with fontspec in luatex (or xetex, though you miss out on the possibilities of \directlua{...} in that case).

Here is an example of using P22 Underground Pro:

\documentclass[14pt]{beamer}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setsansfont{P22 Underground Pro Book}[
  Numbers=OldStyle]
\newfontface\engraved{P22 Underground Engraved}
\linespread{1.104}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{\engraved P22 Underground Pro}

  P22 Underground Pro supports Latin (with all characters needed for
  transliteration of Semitic languages), Greek (including polytonic
  Greek), and Cyrillic. There are arrows, circled numbers, and useful
  dingbats.

  \bigskip

  \addfontfeatures{StylisticSet={3,7}}
  I’m fond of the humanistic alternates (Q W g) and the diamond
  points (:).
\end{frame}
\end{document}

The free versions of this typeface which I noted in the comments don't have stylistic sets, contextual alternates, or other special features, so a simple \setsansfont{Underground NF} or \setsansfont{Railway} should do the trick.

and the font file goes in texmf or in the document root directory, does it? — Alessandro Cuttin, Apr 08 '20 at 20:53
It can go in the document directory (in that case, you invoke it by file name), or wherever your operating system wants fonts installed (for me, on GNU/Linux, that's the .fonts in my home directory). — Thérèse, Apr 08 '20 at 21:14

How to use Johnston Sans or an equivalent substitute?

1 Answers1