Big Shoulders

Big Shoulders is a narrow American Gothic family of types, designed for the Chicago Design System, and available to everyone, for free. The family includes Big Shoulders, Big Shoulders Stencil, and Big Shoulders Inline. Each of those comes in Text—for smaller sized typesetting—and Display—for big typesetting—in nine weights, from Thin to Black.

Big Shoulders is the basis of the family, and it is used for all of the city of Chicago’s official communications. Big Shoulders is how we speak as one Chicago. Big Shoulders Stencil honors Chicago’s history in work and protest, and features cutouts inside the letters. Big Shoulders Inline is about Chicago’s Black and LGBTQ people; Inline types have always been used to talk about dancing to good House music and Chicago is where House was born, on the city’s South Side and in its LGBTQ enclaves.