Developed for professional use, Gotham is an extremely large family, featuring four widths, eight weights, and separate designs for screen display and a rounded version.

[11] Frere-Jones' inspiration for the typeface came from time spent walking block-by-block through Manhattan with a camera to find source material,[12] and he based the font on the lettering seen in older buildings, especially the sign on the Eighth Avenue façade of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

"I suppose there's a hidden personal agenda in the design," Frere-Jones said, "to preserve those old pieces of New York that could be wiped out before they're appreciated.

"[12] The lettering that inspired this typeface originated from the style of 1920s era sans-serifs like Futura, where "Type, like architecture, like the organization of society itself, was to be reduced to its bare, efficient essentials, rid of undesirable, local or ethnic elements."

The text is written in all-uppercase letters, which was criticized, as some wanted a mix of upper and lower-case to "give the words a human voice.

[16] The International Herald Tribune praised the choice for its "potent, if unspoken, combination of contemporary sophistication (a nod to his suits) with nostalgia for America's past and a sense of duty.

"[17] John Berry, an author of books on typography, agreed: "It's funny to see it used in a political campaign because on the one hand it's almost too ordinary yet that's the point.

In her campaign, Hillary Clinton used New Baskerville, a serif used by book publishers, law firms and universities, while John McCain used Optima, the same font used for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

[21] After Obama won the presidency, Gotham and similar typefaces found their way into various federal government projects, most notably the identity of the 2010 United States Census.

Major League Soccer team New York City FC used Gotham prominently, on its logo and in its promotional materials.

Coca-Cola, television shows Conan, Maury and Saturday Night Live, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Qwest advertisements, and the Georgia Governor's Office of Customer Service have all used Gotham in logos.

[16] The Georgia state government cited Gotham's "clean, fresh lines" and variations that "offer a variety of options for use in all marketing, advertising and signage applications" as reason for its use.

[27][28] The typographical logo of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, designed by Landor Associates, features a style mixture of Gotham and Verlag, another H & FJ typeface.

[29] Frere-Jones said about the typeface when it was released in 2002: With Gotham's origin—and my own stubborn opinions—I think that anywhere in the suburban sprawl would be the worst place for it: advertising for featureless subdivisions, the specials board at the Exit 23 Dairy Queen, bumper stickers that say 'I [heart] my SUV' and so on.

Gotham was the font family used by most government agencies in the Australian state of New South Wales until 2021 when it changed to Public Sans.

[46] On April 4, 2011, Hoefler and Frere-Jones announced that they had created a new wordmark based on Gotham with serifs for the use of President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign.

[48][49][50] By this time Frere-Jones had left the company; Fonts in Use reports Malou Verlomme and Sara Soskolne as having cooperated on the additional alphabets.