Which font's digits resemble Nixie tube digits?

Question

I will try to mimic Nixie tube digits in an application. For responsiveness and scalability I won't use any rasterized images of actual tubes, this will be a sufficiently adequate mock which just wants to give back the atmosphere of Nixie tubes. I'm planning to achieve this by coloring a matching font's digits and cast a glow effect too. For reference here are some real Nixie tubes:

(the photo was taken from http://danyk.cz/digitrony_en.html if you want to see many more examples).

I'm searching for a TTF format primarily. I was going through many dozens of fonts in Google Webfonts' Helper. I was primarily aiming for Monospace + Sans Serif fonts. Monospace would guarantee even spacing, but if it comes to push and shove I can work with a non Monospace font as well.

So far the closest I found is: Overpass Mono

What is great in this one is the digit "2". As you can see the bottom part has that curve. Almost all of the other candidate fonts I saw don't have that curve. However it has one major and a minor flaw. Major flaw is that central dot inside the digit "0". And the minor one is the serif bottom of the digit "1". Other slight thing is that it's fatter than I'd like it to be, it could be a 100 weight.

Other examples: Inconsolata Regular

The digit "1" doesn't have the serif bottom, the "0" has a crossover instead of a dot, which I can live with. The digit "2" does not have the bottom curve what the Nixie tube "2" or the Overpass mono has. It is not offered in thinner than regular weight.

Roboto Mono 100

Just like the Inconsolata the "1" does not have the serif, the "2" does not have the curve though. The zero has a crossover, the 100 weight availability is a plus here.

Major Mono Display

The "0" does not have a dot, but a crossover, however the "1" has a serif bottom, the "2" does not have the bottom curve and the "3" diverts in style from the Nixie simplicity.

If anyone can point me towards a font which matches the Nixie tube's style better, please don't hesitate. The font doesn't have to be free (I'm just saying because the Google Webfonts above are free).

Answer 1

One family I've recently noticed is the TT Chocolates and the Extra Light looks pretty close to what you need, but note the '1' in the image below is replaced with an uppercase 'i' (as suggested by Chris H in the comments below).

Answer 2

You can try some version Bernhard Gothic. This is Extra Light:

It's not free and clearly it has different curves than the tube photo. I guess in your application idea the whole presentation with glows and tube frames will be more important than exact curve forms. It should be enough that the glyphs are plausible, technically possible to be and work in a tube (=do not cover each other too much, can be fasten)

You can make for your personal purposes an own simple enough version with font editor. You cannot distribute a modified version of an existing commercial computer font.

If you need only numbers, draw them in Inkscape or Illustrator on the tube photo. Or get an experienced person to do the drawing. Here's an example:

These are scratched together fast with Inkscape's Pen and Node tools, which fit perfectly for manual tracing. I guess there are actually used circular and elliptical arcs and straight lines.

Resembling glyphs can be drawn legally as long as you do not copy existing font software. If you need a font, you must start from scratch but that's not especially complex if you use a service or program which generates a font from your own drawings. Check for example Scanahand or Calligraphr. You can fill the handwriting form in the computer, there's no need to draw manually.

Answer 3

Here are a few options that you may find useful:

Code Light Regular
NeutraTextTF-LightAlt
Brandon Grotesque Thin
Gotham Thin

Answer 4

Possibly worth looking at https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/kinobrand/nixin?tab=glyphs which appears to have been designed as a 'nixie alike' font. Though it puts a foot on the '1' in ultralight(but not on other font weights) and has a closed '4'. And of course it is not free.

Of course it depends where your nixie tubes were made... if they are genuine Nixie or just generic 'nixie' neon indicator tubes. My soviet-block 'nixies' use an upside-down 5 as the 2 glyph.

Answer 5

I don't know the exact font but I have a few ideas for your project (would really like to know what font it is though):

Period accurate geometric sans serifs for a jumping off point: Univers - 1957 Futura - 1927

Also a condensed geometric font like Gotham Condensed (based on Futura but made in the 2000s) may give you the effect you want.

For the nixie tube only: On Google fonts, comfortaa somewhat looks like it and with the rounded edges may enhance the glow effect https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Comfortaa

Answer 6

this is Wida Round, but there are some MAJOR changes with the 1, the 2, the 3, 4, 6, and 9. this is the light weight, but it's a demo version also, so the missing characters are replaced by a watermark. the second 1 is a uppercase I. now i'll show you the changes. the 1 has 2 lines instead of 1, the 2 is too rounded, the 3 has no lines at the top, the 4's top lines are not connected, and the 6 and 9's hooks are too rounded.

Answer 7

here, i found an similar font called Quicksand with less changes. i didn't know a simple, popular, and BORING font can be that useful! again, the second 1 is a uppercase I. this is the light weight, but this is not a demo version, so, in the last font, there were 6 changes. but the bonus changes are gonna count, so the last font leaves us with 8 changes. so this font has 4 changes. those slight curve changes with the 6, 9 and 5 are not gonna count for obvious reasons. 8 is more than 4, and 4 is less than 8. this font was actually found from a website that forces you to download the Nixie One font, which is a typewriter font. now here's the changes: let's go from the lowest to highest numbers. first, the 1. the 1 has the diagonal line at the top, but the nixie tube character for 1 doesn't. now, the 2. the 2 doesn't have the rounded curve at the bottom. next up, the number 4. the number 4 has a connected line at the top. but the fact about this change is that some nixie tube have that connected 4. finally, the number 8. the number 8's upper circle is too small. that's it.

Answer 8

I made my own Nixie Tube font, u're welcome to use it if u like :)