Speaking of fonts ...

[Woody44]

It appears that political correctness and "cancel culture" will be coming soon to a font near you.

If my attitude toward this appears to be sarcastic, it's because I am apolitical in nature, and I have little tolerance for today's cancel culture. Nonetheless, for those who aren't aware of it, it appears that Gill Sans (and Gill Sans Nova, a near derivative), a classic sans serif font, is coming under attack because the designer wasn't exactly a nice person. Talented type designer, yes -- exemplary human being, no.

That means those of us who design books and covers for publication should be prepared to NOT use Gill Sans. To me that's unfortunate, because it's a very nice and extremely useful typeface. It's not like not using it today is going to deprive Eric Gill of any royalties -- he died in 1940, which is 83 years ago. But that won't matter to the cancel culture, so we need to have alternates.

What fonts in the Megafont NOW collection are close to Gill Sans? I have a few variations of Futura and that's a possibility, but seveal of the characteres are not really the same or close to the same between Futura and Gill Sans.

Thanks.

[Jossi]

I shouldn't worry too much. Even if there is a certain hype about Gill's behaviour now (which has been known since Fiona McCarthy’s biography was published in 1989) Gill Sans is too deeply ingrained in typography and displays all over the world to be discarded easily. But as you are looking for a SoftMaker alternative: you have the choice between Chantilly, Chantilly Serial and Gibson.

[lgsl]

I agree with Jossi. Gill Sans is too popular. It has been for a long time, and with reason. It is a well design typeface that does not has as many issues as many other popular sans-serif fonts like Helvetica. Who cares if the designer was or was not a nice person. If we judge things that way: if the inventor/creator was a nice person or not, according to modern standards then, most likely, we would have to go back to the stone age, since we could not use most of what we take for granted today.
Cancel culture only works when you censure yourself. In fact is all about censuring yourself just because X or Y might offend someone. You like the typeface for you book covers? Then use it. And for those who does not like it well... it is fine, is their business, not yours. What is the worst that can happen? They do not buy your book. But what if you censure yourself? Then your vision will suffer, your book will not be what you wanted it to be.
Anyway... as Jossi said Chantilly, Chantilly Serial and Gibson are close to Gill Sans, if so you choose to use those instead.

[Woody44]

I shouldn't worry too much. Even if there is a certain hype about Gill's behaviour now (which has been known since Fiona McCarthy’s biography was published in 1989) Gill Sans is too deeply ingrained in typography and displays all over the world to be discarded easily. But as you are looking for a SoftMaker alternative: you have the choice between Chantilly, Chantilly Serial and Gibson.

I have to worry about it. I do book interiors and book covers for other authors. And a great many authors are politically correct to the point of being "woke."

I'll check out those three options. Thanks.

[Woody44]

Cancel culture only works when you censure yourself. In fact is all about censuring yourself just because X or Y might offend someone. You like the typeface for you book covers? Then use it. And for those who does not like it well... it is fine, is their business, not yours. What is the worst that can happen? They do not buy your book. But what if you censure yourself? Then your vision will suffer, your book will not be what you wanted it to be.
Anyway... as Jossi said Chantilly, Chantilly Serial and Gibson are close to Gill Sans, if so you choose to use those instead.

No, cancel culture works when the rest of the world cancels perceived offenders. If the worst that can happen is they don't buy my book -- well, that IS the worst that can happen, isn't it? By definition. It's difficult enough for self-published authors to sell books. We can't afford to alienate potential buyers/readers. If major corporations are dropping Gill Sans, we should regard that as a clue that this is something we need to be aware of and at least be prepared to address and respond to.

The simple response is to use a clone font. Then if someone asks "Did you use Gill Sans?" it's simple enough to answer, "No, I used Gibson."

[Woody44]

I shouldn't worry too much. Even if there is a certain hype about Gill's behaviour now (which has been known since Fiona McCarthy’s biography was published in 1989) Gill Sans is too deeply ingrained in typography and displays all over the world to be discarded easily. But as you are looking for a SoftMaker alternative: you have the choice between Chantilly, Chantilly Serial and Gibson.

My Megafonts NOW includes Chantilly Pro and Chantilly Serial, but no Gibson.

[Jossi]

My Megafonts NOW includes Chantilly Pro and Chantilly Serial, but no Gibson.

Maybe it’s not in the MegaFont NOW collection presently on sale. I own an older version called MegaFont XXL with more than 12000 fonts (MegaFont NOW has only 7500).

[lgsl]

You are correct. Gibson is only in the old MegaFont XXL.
I do own most (if not all) of SoftMaker font packs, and I did not saw Gibson in any other.
However Chantilly Pro and Chantilly Serial are close enough to the original Gill Sans.