Introduction

  Movie Font

Special Instructions

The Blade Runner Movie Font has a unique characteristic. The L and A in the original Blade Runner logo overlap. This makes it impossible for the “Blade” in Blade Runner to look like the original font without some special tinkering. Therefore, the uppercase character set is used to store special Blade Runner Movie Font characters, namely, the [image] and [image]. To get the joined [image] or the truncated [image] from the original movie logo follow these instructions:

1  For the overlapping [image] choose “Shift” or “Caps Lock” and type L (the joined LA should appear).

2  For the truncated [image] choose “Shift” or “Caps Lock” and type A (the truncated A should appear).

The Blade Runner Movie Font Project

I created the Blade Runner Movie Font after trying to find, unsuccessfully, a Blade Runner font  that was identical to the original movie font.

The Making of the Blade Runner Movie Font

I started by scanning the front cover of the Blade Runner DVD. Then, using the scanned image as a template to draw over, I manually traced over each letter using vector graphics in CorelDraw 8. I then extrapolated the appearance of the remaining letters based on the initial eight characters  ( [image], [image], [image], [image], [image], [image], [image], [image]). Once I had finished all 38 alphanumeric characters (including the special [image] and [image] character combinations necessary for this font) I exported each letter individually as an Adobe Illustrator 7 file (this is essentially an EPS file). Next, I imported all of the Illustrator files into Macromedia’s Fontographer font program one by one. Once in Fontographer I cleaned up each letter individually and added stylized parentheses, brackets, etc. to complete the effect.

The Blade Runner Movie Font is Freeware

Although this effort took dozens of hours to complete I’m releasing my work as freeware - for the love of Blade Runner. I wanted to contribute to what I believe to be one of the greatest works of science fiction. Besides, I didn’t ask for or receive permission to use the Blade Runner name. If you have any further questions, comments, or simply want all the source files please e-mail me at phil.steinschneider@pressroom.com. If you use this font please try to fit my name in somewhere. Also, if you get a chance, send me an e-mail if you decide to use this font in a place that is publicly accessible so that I might take a look at it.

Dedication

This font is dedicated to Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott, Michael Deeley, Hampton Fancher, David Peoples, Syd Mead, Rutger Hauer, Harrision Ford and all the rest of the people that made or contributed to the Blade Runner magic. Thank you.

For More Information

All questions, answers, comments, or requests should be directed to Phil Steinschneider at phil.steinschneider@pressroom.com.