helvetica

Helvetica, classified as a Grotesque or Transitional san serif face; was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger (Swiss typeface designer) and Eduard Hoffmann (director of the Haas Type Foundry). The intention of the typeface was to design a complete neutral typeface, a typeface that had great clarity and consisted of no inherent meaning.

Their design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk. The font was originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, yet in 1960 the typeface name was changed to allow for use in a greater international market. It was initially suggested that the type be called 'Helvetia' which is the original Latin name for Switzerland, this was ignored by Eduard Hoffmann as he decided it wouldn't be appropriate to name a type after a country. He then decided on 'Helvetica' as this means 'Swiss' as opposed to 'Switzerland'.

From the '60s onward, Helvetica became the font of choice for business' that wanted to convey a modern and contemporary image. Because Helvetica is legible at any scale, companies like Lufthansa and American Airlines adopted the typeface for everything from graphics on airplanes to pens and letterheads.

Since 1985, every Apple computer has included Helvetica as a default font, meaning that Apple licensed the typeface and embedded it in their system. Microsoft not wanting to pay licensing fees looked for a cheaper alternative. In 1992, the Windows chose Arial, a digital Helvetica lookalike, as the default font in their software. Since then Arial has spread rapidly, much to the dismay of many who dismiss it as a parasite. Arial, designed in 1982, while different from Helvetica in some details, has identical character widths, and is indistinguishable by most non-specialist typographers. The capital letters C, G, and R, the number 1 as well as the lowercase letters a, e, r, and t, are useful for quickly distinguishing Arial and Helvetica. The differences include, Helvetica's strokes are typically cut either horizontally or vertically. Where as Arial employs slanted stroke cuts. Helvetica's G has a well-defined spur; Arial does not. The tails of the R glyphs and the a glyphs are different and the number 1 of Helvetica has a square angle underneath the upper spur, Arial has a curve.

Initially Helvetica was seen as a somewhat total neutral font that would mould around feature of the text, yet this has shifted in today’s typographical world. Helvetica has gained a stigma as a modern big business, which influences the inherent meaning of its use.

References

-American Airline (www.aa.com/)

-Muller, Lars -Helvetica: homage to a typeface, Springer 2004

-Helvetica Film (www.helveticfilm.com)

-Helvetica Vs. Arial (www.mimeartist.com/helvetica/)

Image: Specimen of Didot typeface. Harper's Bazaar UK April 2008. Sourced from

The Didot typeface.

Firmin Didot, French typography based in Paris, founded the Didot typefaces during the period 1784 to 1811. The French printing and type producing family dominated the French typefounding for two centuries, and he is remembered today as the namesake of a series of neoclassical typefaces that exquisitely captured the Modern Style. The typeface came about from experimentation with increasing stroke contrast and a more condensed armature. Firmin Didot is credited with “designing and establishing the use of the ‘modern’ classification of typefaces”. (Apel, J. 2010. What is typography?)

Whilst Didot is similar to the typeface Bodoni, designed in 1978 by Giambattista Bodoni, it still has distinct characteristics that make this typeface as timeless as it is. Didot is very strict in their designs, and truly vertical in their counterforms, infact verticality is perhaps the prime characteristic of the Didot typeface. Other distinct characteristics of the Didot typeface include:

- Extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes

- Hairline serifs without bracketing

- Small x-height

- Vertical stress in rounded strokes

This family of typefaces includes, regular, bold and italic. With their substantial stems flowing into extremely thin hairlines, the serifs are straight across with virtually no bracket, these flowing, elegant features intricately link Didot to the notions of fashion and femininity. The characteristics of Didot are what exquisitely captured the modern style of type and It was these modern designs that represent the first movement toward visual expression in type.

It was in 1912 that Deberny and Peignot bought the original Didot typeface, making the font newly accessible to designers. From here, its use as type in a fashionable context, continued to grow as it was adopted by two influential American Art Directors, Dr Mehemed Fehmy Agha, art director of Vogue (1929 to 1942), and Alexey Brodovitch, art director of Harper’s Bazaar (1934 to 1958). Harper’s Bazaar would become a milestone in fashion publishing due to the use of Didot as its titling font, therefore making it suited to, fashion and femininity. As stated, it was created for “one of the most dramatic magazine reinventions in history”, a heroic period in French typographic History. (Hoefler & Frere-Jones. 1989-2010. Fashionable for almost 200 years.) Today the Didot typefaces continue to be a major part of the most fashionable brands, including Bazaar itself – a flexibility and durability of the style, fashionable for almost 200 years.

Today there are two major revivals of Didot typefaces. Adrian Frutiger designed a Linotype Didot in 1991 based on the work of Firmin Didot, and Jonathon Hoefler designed HTF Didot originally as a titling family for Harper’s Bazaar in 1992.

The overall epitome of the Didot typefaces is one of elegance, formality, and widely associated with high-end fashion.

Reference List

Apel, J. (2010). What is typography?. Viewed 26^th July 2010. http://provenceportfolio.com/otherprojects_graphicdesign09.html

Bitstream, I. (2007). Didot – About this font family. Viewed 26^th July 2010. http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/linotype-didot/

Hoefler & Frere-Jones. (1989-2010). A font for all sizes. Viewed 26^th July 2010. http://typography.com/fonts/font_features.php?featureID=29&productLineID=100004

Hoefler & Frere-Jones. (1989-2010). Fashionable for almost 200 years. Viewed 26^th July 2010. http://typography.com/fonts/font_overview.php?productLineID=100004

Miller, A. (2001). Through thick and thin: fashion and type. Viewed 26^th July 2010. http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=151&fid=647

Prochez, J. (2001). L’Ambroise en de’tails. Viewed 26^th July 2010. http://www.typofonderie.com/gazette/articles/AmbroiseDetails

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

Futura

Futura was designed in 1927 by famous typographer Paul Renner. As a German designer he was working amidst the movement of the Bauhaus; influencing the heavily geometric form of his design. Renner was not immediately associated with the Bauhaus, although he did share many of the fundamentals and ideologies surrounding the Bauhaus.

Like many of the products designed in the Bauhaus movement, the finish is clear and timelessly contemporary.

Futura is comprised of basic geometric forms (circles, triangles and squares) and each stroke is similar in weight. This type embodies the aesthetic of an extremely successful and popular era of design. The Bauhaus movement is still influential today and referenced heavily in contemporary design. The minimalism, simplicity and legibility give this type a very timeless and versatile image. He believed that functional design should be "usable, efficient, but they should also look good"1. Renner’s typeface would exemplify the shift from an era of handcrafted embellishment, to a new, modern industrial age in design.

Renner designed the type to take place of Fraktur, the gothic script that had been used for centuries in Germany and was associated with the Nazi philosophy. Renner openly called for Frakturs abolishment, making him and enemy of the state- in spite of this Renner was dismissed from his teaching post by the Nazis for “national unworthiness”. Ironically, the Nazis eventually abolished Fraktur, claiming it was a Jewish script. The Nazis then adopted serif and serfiless-romans, although Renner was still prohibited from practicing his craft.

The Germans had rejected Fraktur, like Renner, but for far different reasons. Renner developed Futura in response to the age of industrialism, whilst the Nazis used it as a symbol of denunciation to the Jewish race.2

dramatic poster for a Reich sports event, 1934. featuring the traditional black letter that was eventually abolished by the Nazis.

Walter Brudi poster using the banned (at the time) Futura, 1932

1 Paul Renner: The Art of Typography p.69 (1998) by Christopher Burke

2 Technical Communication (2000) by Charles Crawley

Adobe Garamond Pro
Regular
***

Classification: Old style

Claude Garamond was an influential type designer from the 16th century, most notably known for his Roman typefaces; specifically Garamond, Granjon and Sabon. His work has been adapted in a number of ways to adhere to modern standards of use. Jean Jannon, a French printer, recreated a “Garamond” type style which had subtle differences, but was mistakenly credited to Claude Garamond for over a century. Essentially, Jannon’s work was later credited to him and was then produced in a historical context, which effectively brought attention back to French typography and the Garamond style typeface. Most modern adaptations are based on Jannon’s work due to its previous mistaken identity.

Robert Slimbach worked passionately on type and calligraphy for four years at Autologic in California prior to joining Adobe in 1987. His journey on the redesigning of the classic Garamond typeface in 1989 began by studying the historical specimens as well as travelling to Belgium to see remnants of them first hand. The basis of the re-design stemmed from the notion of not being able to find an authentic true-to the original Garamond typeface.

While the original Garamond typeface is considerably elegant and practical in its form and is legible in all font sizes, its digital counterpart – Adobe Garamond is quite thin when below 12pt. Adobe Garamond Pro pushes the envelope in terms of its practicality and is visually more accessible from 12pt. and above. Thus, the nature of its contemporary redesign still harbours a variety of possible digital and print based mediums, some of these include; newspapers, books and magazines, as well as advertising and professional institutional communications.

The fonts’ increase in legibility is determined upon its font size; at 12pt the counters and minimal stroke weight properties are starkly evident. On 36pt and above the type faces’ particularly modernistic approach to Roman typefaces is revealed on a larger scale, readability and uses for various media are abundant and apparent when considering its ability to engage a reader in its elegant strokes and its overall balance and chemistry between the negative and positive spaces. The axis on which the counters are based on provide a distinctive quality that further enhance the readability of the letters within the words.

The serifs are softly angled and the proportions sit well within the rest of the typeface. There is consistency between the slight curves and is apparent when letters are placed one after the other, a subtle flow of movement can be observed within the serifs themselves and is noticeable upon closer inspection, it further emphasises the graceful complexity of the typeface.

Glyphs have also been stylised to ensure users have a range of Old style letterforms. The glyphs that are included within the OpenType format include Old style figures, Lining figures, Titling capitals, F-ligatures, Small capitals, Swish capitals, Superiors, Inferiors, numerators and denominators, Superior Letters, Accented Glyphs, Mathematical Symbols, Ending and Alternative Glyphs, Miscellaneous and Monetary Symbols and finally, Ornaments.

References

***

Slimbach, R. & Brady, F. Through the Adobe website. Retrieved July 22, 2010, from http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/pdfs/AdobeGaramondPro.pdf

Gill, E. (1993). An essay on typography. David R. Godine Publisher

Baines, P. & Haslam, A. (2005). Type and Typography, Laurence King Publishing

Myriad Pro

Based on the research on Wikipedia, Myriad typeface was first designed by Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly who worked for Abode System. Apple Inc. used the typeface of Myriad since the year of 2002 for commercial use on their packaging such as IPod. The typeface was first introduced in 1991 with the name of Myriad MM as a multiple master type family. Moreover, at the time the typeface introduce, the user allows to generate variations in width and weight of the font by using intelligent software engine. In 2003, Myriad MM was discontinued since it was re-issued as Myriad Pro typeface in 2000. In addition, Myriad typeface is been used in other company around the world for their headline such as the Wells Fargo, Wal-Mart, and Modern Telegraph. Myriad also incorporated in some other company logo such as MRT in Hong Kong, Japan Nippon Airways logo and some universities such as Cambridge University, University of Virginia and Loyola University Chicago. Mat (2007) mentions that Myriad is a humanist san serif font which more developed to human hand script. The friendliness of Myriad can be seen by its organic structure of the font which create the Myriad font more casual, attractive but yet still formal and bold and close to human writing.

However, there are several option of Myriad families that available such as :

Myriad Web

The Myriad Web is a version of Myriad TrueType Font format which maximize the font quality for onscreen use. The myriad web contain only five type of fonts such as : Myriad Web Pro Bold, Myriad Web Pro Regular, Myriad Web Pro Condensed Italic, Myriad Web Pro Condensed, Myriad Web Pro Italic. In addition, the different of Myriad Pro is slightly less wider than the Myriad Web Pro.

Myriad Pro

The Myriad Pro is the latest version of development form Myriad MM. The font was first shipped in 2000 as the font became an open type font from Myriad font family which available in every program that we use and available today. The designer of the fonts was originally by Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly, with addition of other designer to developed the Myriad MM such as Christopher Slye and Fred Brady. However, Myriad Pro comprises 40 fonts in four widths and five weights which originally was comprises only 30 fonts by adding a semi condensed width several year after the font was shipped.

Myriad Wild

Myriad Sketch and Myriad Tilt fonts are the package that contain in Adobe Font package as Myriad Wild. Myriad tilt is incorporates with irregular stroke weight and paths while Myriad Sketch is a little irregular outline version of Myriad.

Myriad Wild Std

Myriad Wild Std is the Open Type version of Myriad Wild.

In conclusion, Myriad Pro font are available widely today, it has been widely use in a lot of company in packaging brand and logo font suck as Apple INC. The font itself have a similar popularity with Helvetica family which also use in a lot of commercial use. however, they are very different typeface from each other, where Myriad Pro has curve and air flow through each other which create the sense of more lighter, friendly, and free shape (less solid).

References

Mat, 2007, "What do you know about Myriad?", Typophile, > viewed 26/07/2010,

< http://typophile.com/node/35445

Wikipedia, viewed at 26/07/2010,

Academic dictionaries and encyclopedias, viewed at 26/07/2010,

< http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/738221>

Belinda O'Brien, 3253712

Univers

The Neo-Grotesque typeface Univers was designed in 1957, alongside siblings Folio and Neue Haas Grotesque (later renamed Helvetica) as a response to the need for a utilitarian, versatile typeface. Univers was conceived by Adrian Frutiger, who has produced some of the most well known and widely used typefaces, some of which include Méridien (1955), Frutiger (1975) and Avenir (1988). After completing his Design education in Zurich under Professor Walter Kach, Frutiger moved to Paris and began working for the Deberny & Peignot type foundry.



Frutiger designed Univers when new phototypesetting technologies were being implemented. This new economical way of printing freed type from the ancient ‘triptych’ of Roman/ Bold/ Italic and gave way to the ability for many other variations to be developed. Today there are 27 variations in the Univers font family, and an additional 63 in Frutiger’s newer Linotype Univers; an extended family he developed alongside the Linotype foundry in the ‘90s. Frutiger broke away from named styles, as he wished for his font to be understood internationally, and instead formulated a “neutral, universally comprehensible numerical system” (Frutiger, 2010), which was arranged in the form of a star. (This numerical system became popular, and was later adopted by Helvetica Neue). Univers has been designed with great care for detail, where each variation’s form stems from its original (Univers 55 is the base font). Univers also proves to be extremely legible, perhaps because of its even stroke weights and large X- height. It is for this reason that Univers has become so known and adored for its extraordinary ability to work perfectly at all sizes and for all purposes- be it in mastheads, headlines, body text, etc.



Univers has been prominently used in ‘Swiss Style’ design; an approach to design that emphasises cleanliness, readability and objectivity. It uses asymmetric layouts, sans-serif type, grids, and left text alignment with ragged right text. Popular ‘Swiss Style’ designers include Josef Müller-Brockmann, Paul Rand, Jan Tschichold and Emil Ruder. The style is sometimes known as the ‘International Style’, which was also the art and architectural style of the time. The principals are similar across all mediums, however in graphic design specifically, typography is considered a primary design element and not simply a tool for text. The style drew many of its influences from the Russian-born Constructivist Movement, which used rigid geometry and placed an emphasis on structure, flat colour, diagonals, asymmetry, and favoured photography over drawn illustration.



Being very similar, Univers and Helvetica have somewhat of a rivalry. Despite its obvious victory over Helvetica in that it has a much vaster variety of styles, some find Univers more clean, soft and universally modern. It is argued that Univers is more classically proportioned, and that its modulated strokes give Univers more character. New York practising Willi Kunz has relied on Univers almost exclusively throughout his career. He firmly believes the font is still contemporary, functional, comprehensive, and completely appropriate. However, Allan Haley modestly expresses the true charm of Univers, stating

“Think of it as a Swiss design with a French heart. As its weight increases, this personality becomes more apparent. The slight (but clearly visible) contrast in stroke weight, subtle angularity, and just the smallest hint of calligraphic brush stroke makes Univers a typeface with a twinkle in its eye.”


References

Christensen, T. (n.d.). The Typehead Chronicles: Univers. Accessed August 1, 2010 from http://www.rightreading.com/typehead/univers.htm

Frutiger, A. (2010). Adrian Frutiger – Traces: Univers. Accessed 1 August 2010 from http://www.linotype.com/793-12660/univers.html?PHPSESSID=1ea8dcdcde000d58768aaed97011b889

Hollis, R. (2006). Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style. New Haven, CT, U.S.A.: Yale University Press.

Shaw, P. (n.d.). The Road Taken. Retrieved 31 July 2010 from http://www.itcfonts.com/Ulc/2542/BookRevRoadTaken.htm

Typophile. (2010). Indicies: Typefaces: Univers. Retrieved 31 July 2010 from http://typophile.com/node/13516

Typophile. (2010). Indicies: Designers: Adrian Frutiger. Retrieved 31 July 2010 from http://typophile.com/node/12118

Typophile Users. (2007-2010). Helvetica vs. Univers. Retrieved 31 July 2010 from http://typophile.com/node/33301


By Belinda O'Brien, 3253712