Univers by TJ

Preface

The ‘real world’ deadlines of magazine publishing were rudely introduced to me on day one of my PEP placement. I forced my shaking hand to accept the urgent brief from the creative director as I swiftly retreated into the foetal position underneath the desk sucking my thumb and longing for the safety of a cold, dimly lit lecture theatre. If it wasn’t for the ex-Cofa student who heard my whimpering and kindly introduced me to Univers I most definitely would still be hiding under that desk; all fingers and toes sucked completely off.

Univers ‘looks’ contemporary and with its many variations in weight, condensing and expanding, it is an excellent option when a page needs to include a huge amount of copy with many hierarchical levels, which is exactly what the majority of my PEP tasks were. To punch these pages out to merciless deadlines meant that Univers quickly became my friend.

Tanya Johannesen

Swiss born Adrian Frutiger was in his mid twenties when he designed Univers in 1954. His varied faces (as seen above) were denoted using a unique numbering system where digits relate to weight, width, and position.

1997 saw Frutiger reworking Univers with Linotype resulting in Linotype Univers offering up 63 fonts which use an updated (although slightly more confusing) numbered naming system.

Design Features
Univers is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface with short ascenders and descenders and a large x-height. The typeface is read quite easily even when printed very small and this makes great use of tight spaces as more information can be presented without losing legibility.

Univers comes in 21 fonts which also provide many variations themselves and this increases flexibility of typesetting and allows a myriad of contrasts to be displayed within the single typeface.

The various condensed and expanded fonts allow efficient use of small as well as large spaces and they allow legibility for readers close up or far away.

Univers vs. Helvetica
Univers can easily be mistaken for the other well-worn modern Swiss typeface, Helvetica, however Univers shows a smaller x-height, with a wider base font. Univers also has more of a stroke inflection than Helvetica and some argue this means more character.

You can identify our friend Univers by the round strokes which are more squared than Helvetica. Also, look at the ‘k’ and you will see the diagonal strokes meet at the stem, unlike Helvetica. Now compare ‘a’ and you will see Helvetica looks almost like an osteoperosis patient compared to our straight backed friend.

Suitable Applications
As previously mentioned Univers was a star performer in the advertorials that I worked on during PEP; lots of copy, limited space, many different information points needing attention and therefore (often too) busy visual hierarchies which varied Univers was most capable of providing for. Furthermore, current magazine style guides lean heavily towards headlines showing combined sans-serif and serif fonts and Univers was a great partner in this.

Univers is suitable for long text or larger headings and signage, and because it is perceived as clean and modern it is popular for product packaging.

Famously Univers is used by Swiss International Airlines and until 2007 it was used on Apple Mac keyboards.

Personality
Whilst the general consensus sees the more easily read typefaces as being somewhat simplistic and dignified, I personally find Univers slightly ‘off’ in this regard. To my eye Univers resembles a student who is well behaved on school grounds while itching to jump out of its uniform in the pursuit of after-hour mischief, and there-in lies its immense appeal.

Reference
Pao, I. & Berger, J, 2006, 30 Essential Typefaces for a Lifetime, Rockport Publishers: USA
Kunz, W., 1998, Typography: Macro- and Microaesthetics, Verlag Niggli AG: Switzerland