SAN FRANCISCO 2.0

Here’s what Apple’s completely different San Francisco fonts looked like in 1984 and 2014

The golden gate.
The golden gate.
Image: AP Photo/Eric Risberg
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Apple is reportedly set to refresh its upcoming mobile and desktop operating systems with a new font called San Francisco.

Image for article titled Here’s what Apple’s completely different San Francisco fonts looked like in 1984 and 2014
Image: Wikimedia Commons

But turns out this isn’t Apple’s first font named for the city by the bay. When the company debuted the Macintosh computer in 1984, it came with a font called San Francisco created by legendary designer Susan Kare. (Steve Jobs told Apple’s typeface designers to name the system fonts after major cities—hence Chicago, New York, and Geneva.)

A reflection of early Mac aesthetics, the San Francisco of 1984 emulated the ransom note effect, with each character distinctly different, like cut outs from a magazine or newspaper.

San Francisco, 1984
San Francisco, 1984
Image: Susan Kare
San Francisco, 2014
San Francisco, 2014

But the San Francisco of 2014—released to developers in November and designed specifically for the Apple Watch’s small display—eschews the playfulness of a ransom note for a more polished and modern look. It will reportedly replace Helvetica Neue, the system-wide font currently used in iOS 7, iOS 8, and OS X Yosemite. With more space between the letters, the modern-day San Francisco makes text in long passages easier to read and improves legibility on small screens.

For Apple, the use of this new font will not only provide a consistent look, but also a subtle visual cue for all its products released post-Apple Watch.