Futura

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Futura

Designed in1927 by Paul Renner the typeface Futura is one of perfect proportions and a great example of design produced from Weimar Culture (1918-1933). Weimar culture was the catalyst to an increase in the arts and science, it was one of the major influences on the Bauhaus Design school and a period of which Germany were in the centre of during the 1920’s.

Futura is the most recognised work of typeface designer Paul Renner. Along with a few texts on publication layouts he has also designed a number of other typefaces which have obvious references to the hugely successful futura.

Paul Renner was not associated with the Bauhaus school of design but did heavily support their design practices and idealologies. His focus throughout the design of Futura was to create a typeface which was modern and unique – not something that “revived a previous design” (Typophile, 2010).

Futura was originally designed by Renner for the Bauer Type Foundry in Frankfurt, a company that designs/distributes typefaces originally in wood or metal for line casting machines (used with the letter press) and today in digital form.

fig 1:Example of Futura in use. Included with the first edition of the Futura type specimen. Late 1927.

In the original design of Futura there were a number of letterforms which were re-examined and re-designed before the face was published. These included character designs which were more decorative and gothic than Renner intended and can be found in (another of Renner’s typefaces) Architype Renner. Renner wanted the font to be “stripped of any handwritten characteristics” (Burke, 1998)(eg. Additional tails and curls) because this would set it apart from other sans-serif fonts. Futura’s modern look is described as being effective by Christopher Burke “There is no flow from one to the other. The movement, the vigour these letters receive is through their simple appearance” (Burke, 1998).

The characters themselves are designed with consistent and harmonious proportions with the fundamentals for these proportions taken from those of a circle, square and triangle. The design also includes cross bars and arms which are half the square width. Renner credits the individuality of the typeface to the “uncommonly narrow capitals” (Burke, 1998). This sans-serif font has an even stroke weight along lines drawn by all characters which is commonly drawn attention to when featured in headlines. The counters are all lowercase characters are all equal in area where as they vary across the different capital letters whilst still remaining true to the original proportions.

Fig 2: Shop fiascia in Frankfurt am Main, with Futura Capitals. Photographed 1927.

The strict geometric structure remains consistent throughout all characters from capitals to lowercase. Paul Renner strongly believed that “our printing type is not the expression of a movement like handwriting; everything deriving from a left to right dynamic, all thicks and thins, which only entered into script with the quill, make no sense in printing type” (Burke, 1998).

Its clean and crisp outline allows it to be aesthetically pleasing, enabling it to be used for body text. However, the uses of futura are very versatile, the thickness and geometric formations of the characters make them effective as headline text, this is evident in one of the Futura Type Specimens, Fig.1 (Burke, 1998). Its classic look and appeal has meant the font has been used over a wide variety of applications including as the shop front of Fasica in Frankfurt, Fig.2 (Burke, 1998).

Fig 3: Mock book advertisement also included with the first edition of the Futura type specimen. Late 1927

When looking at the mock book advertisement that featured in the first edition of the Futura Type Specimen, Fig.3 (Burke, 1998) it is easy to see how well the typeface Futura can accommodate for a number of different text requirements. The body text is evenly spaced, easy to read and draws the eye in with its congruent proportions. The headline text and other supporting heading text highlight the effectiveness of the typeface used in all caps, the white space surrounding each character is just as Renner describes; “Isolated in their own boundaries” (Burke, 1998) and this is supported with the lowercase style headlines. This specific example highlights the versatility of Futura and this is proven in the way it creates such a dynamic hierarchy.

Futura is one the largest sans serif type systems (a collection of complimenting variations of the font (E.g. Italics, bold). The typeface is continually copied but the newer variations never prove popular than the original itself.

References:

Baglee, P. (2010). Paul Renner: The Art of Typography . Retrieved from Upper & Lower Case Magazine: http://www.itcfonts.com/Ulc/2533/BookRevRenner.htm

Burke, C. (1998). Paul Renner: The Art of Typography. London: Hyphen Press.

Faces. (2006). Futura. Retrieved from Faces: http://www.faces.co.uk/topfonts/futura.cfm

Kurt. (2008). Futura Typeface. Retrieved from C20th Graphic Design: http://c20thgraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2008/05/futura-typeface.html

Typedia. (2010). Futura. Retrieved from Typedia: http://typedia.com/explore/typeface/futura/

Typophile. (2010). Futura. Retrieved from Typophile: http://typophile.com/node/12494