The current ITC Blair font started its life as a cut and cast face simply known as “Blair,” in the St Louis based Inland Type Foundry at the very beginning of the twentieth century. At that point it was one of a series of sans-serif and “almost” sans-serif typefaces produced by the company. Blair had a strictly uppercase character set.

When the Inland Type Foundry was liquidated in 1911, its assets were split between the American Type Foundry and Barnhart Bros. & Spindler. The Blair typeface had by then become extremely popular, allowing ATF to continue producing the type until the nineteen-fifties.

In 1997, graphic designer and typographer Jim Spiece resurrected the Blair typeface with the help of the International Typeface Corporation, bringing it to a new commercial audience who immediately embraced it. Spiece, the founder of Spiece Graphics, had always enjoyed creating fonts from older, largely forgotten faces. The ITC Blair design continues to be very popular in an variety of arenas, from logotype to advertising.

The ITC Blair design’s medium weight and larger-than-normal width have made it an appealing choice for designers worldwide. The font conveys the impression of authority while remaining graceful and suitably minimalistic for use in a wide range of applications.

Well known television series – including 30 Rock – have included the ITC Blair typeface in their promotional materials. Brands like Balenciaga® Perfume and Dorothy Perkins® are also admirers of the font, with both companies choosing ITC Blair for use in their logo designs.

Since the ITC Blair design is an uppercase-only font, it is mainly used for short text sections and in headlines. It is also eminently suitable for elegant business card and stationary design.