How to use Futura font in latex?

Question

I'm on Mac using the standard package that is available. I've tried and tried. but it's not happening

could somebody explain what needs to be done to have Futura font displayed in latex?

Answer 1

I gather your computer runs MacOSX, possibly (likely?) MacOSX 10.12 "Sierra". If so, Futura Medium may be installed by default in the file /Library/Fonts/Futura.ttc. By the way, Futura is a fairly large family of fonts, with 6 weights -- Light, Book, Medium, Heavy, Bold, and Extra Bold -- in the "regular" category and 4 more weights -- Light, Medium, Bold, and Extra Bold -- in the "condensed" category. For each weight, there's both an upright and an oblique (aka slanted) font shape.

Assuming you have access to just the system selection of Futura weight/shape/(non)condensed combinations, the following program -- to be run under either XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX -- should give you access to both the upright and the oblique font shape of Futura Medium.

% !TeX program = xelatex % or: lualatex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Futura Medium}[ItalicFont={Futura Medium Italic}]

\begin{document}
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

\itshape
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
\end{document}

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Update, September 2022: I wrote the answer shown above in March 2017, on a MacBook Air that used MacOSX 10.12 "Sierra" and MacTeX2016. At the time, the font file Futura.ttc was located in the folder /Library/Fonts/. In contrast, under MacOS 10.15 "Monterey", the file Futura.ttc is located at /System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/. Good news: the little demo program shown above works just fine under MacTeX2022.